Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

If I can deal, to a point of order, then, on the final issue which you raised: it is not unusual for there to be motions within the House that allow an opportunity for someone to speak. The seats that I have named are the seats that were on the whips' list, where those members from both sides of the House have already indicated that they wanted to speak on this bill. If the motion were to be carried and those members who the motion said had to be given a chance to speak chose to not jump, then they would be quite within their rights as members of parliament. But we have regularly had motions over the years—for example, we used to have a procedure when a ministerial statement was made, specifically giving an opportunity for the member opposite to make a speech.

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