Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

David Feeney is very pleased about that, the member for Batman is particularly delighted. He is not only relegated to the backbench, he is now relegated to the Federation Chamber.

Mr Albanese interjecting—

In fact, I spoke in the Federation Chamber yesterday, member for Grayndler, on the passing of Eoin Cameron. Many parliaments around the world are moving to second chambers and copying the Australian example. It is a very good way. In fact, Labor initiated this change. It is a very good idea to be able to have non-controversial legislation, committee reports, delegation reports, condolence motions et cetera in the second chamber. And the second chamber has been used very effectively, over a lengthy period of time, for members' 90-second statements, the grievance debate and adjournment debates. By having a hard finish at 8 pm—which is simply moving the dinner break to 8pm to 9.30 pm, which is obviously 1½ hours—and by extending the hours in the Federation Chamber for committee business, government business and private members' business, we will actually be adding an extra 1½ hours of sitting time a week across the two chambers. But the timing of 8 pm is much more sensible management of the parliament.

When I first came to this place, we used to rise at 11 pm, which was never sensible. It was bad for our health. But now, in a much more modern era, people now care about their health, which they should, and they care about their families, which they should. We have many more younger families in this building represented in the parliament. Our own Minister for Revenue and Financial Services has a young family of her own. There are members on both sides of the House who have babies. I think the member for Adelaide missed one of the divisions earlier because she was tending to her young child. So these hours are much more family-friendly and sensible.

We already work a very long day. But what this means is that members will be able to stay in the building and keep working past 8 o'clock. Certainly the cabinet usually sits past 8 o'clock. Committee meetings can still be held at any time. In fact, we had backbench committee meetings on our side of the House at 9 o'clock last night in relation to the plebiscite bill. The parliamentary joint standing committees can meet after 8 o'clock. Nobody would ever accuse MPs in this buildings who come to Canberra for our sitting weeks of slackening off during the week. Our members work very hard on committee work, whether they are on the frontbench or the backbench, and this will ensure that those hours are reflected in the standing orders. As I said, we will be sitting an extra 1½ hours during the week, but we will be better managing our time. This is a very significant change that should be welcome on all sides of the House. I will be very surprised if the Manager of Opposition Business opposes it. I am sure every one of his colleagues, either backbenchers or frontbenchers, would be surprised to be dragged into that particular 'Hellfire Pass' of voting against this 8 pm hard finish.

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