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

Madam Deputy Speaker, I rise on a matter of indulgence. For the benefit of the House, I will just explain the process for the afternoon because we're getting very close to the 90-second statements automatic cut-off and quite a few people travelled here from elsewhere to see the results of this debate on marriage equality.

At 1.30 pm we'll automatically start the 90-second statements suspension of standing orders. That's not because we want to clear the galleries of people who are interested in marriage equality, but there are quite a lot of people who book in for question time, and we don't want there to be a breakout in the gallery as some people are trying to come in and others are wondering why they're being pushed out of their spots. So at 1.30 pm we'll end this debate. There'll be half an hour of 90-second statements and then question time, and then we'll return to the debate after the MPI this afternoon. That means we'll get back to this debate closer to 4.15 pm or 4.30 pm.

Obviously, we'll have a vote on it this evening, but that's the vagaries of the parliament. I apologise for those people who expected it to be earlier but we are having a genuine debate.

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