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

I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the following from occurring:

(1) the House sitting until the conclusion of the second reading debate on the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017, not including summing up by the Member for Leichhardt, the Speaker then adjourning the House until 9.30 am tomorrow;

(2) any division called for after 8 pm to be deferred until 9.30 am on Thursday, 7 December 2017, with the House being adjourned by the Speaker if the debate on the Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017 is unable to be continued; and

(3) until the adjournment of the House today, if any member draws the attention of the Speaker to the state of the House, the Speaker shall announce that he will count the House at 9.30am tomorrow, if the Member then so desires.

To explain to my colleagues, we will finish the second reading debate on the marriage equality bill tonight. The reason the motion is worded the way it is is so that the pious amendment moved by the member for Warringah will not be reached tonight because it can't be voted upon until the member for Leichhardt sums up the debate, and that's why that will happen first thing tomorrow morning. That will give everybody an opportunity to finish their second reading speeches. I don't imagine it'll be a late-night sitting to 11 or midnight. It's much more likely to finish up about 9.30 tonight, which is great, but it means that those people who are still to speak will get the opportunity to do so. Then, tomorrow morning we'll have the second reading summing up by the member for Leichhardt, vote on the pious amendment and then move into the consideration in detail stage, at which time members, if they choose to do so, will be able to put amendments to the House, which they can debate and we'll vote on tomorrow.

Just to make sure that everyone understands, till the House rises today the government will not be conducting any other items of government business. The only item of business that we'll deal with will be the marriage equality debate.

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