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

On the points that have been made by the Manager of Opposition Business and by yourself, the position you've previously taken publicly and in this building was that you wouldn't use your casting vote on precedent to change anything. The difficulty with using your casting vote to vote 'no' on this occasion would be that we would actually change something, because the message from the Senate would then become a government decision, or a policy of the House of Representatives. You'd be using your casting vote to make an action occur, and you've said previously that you wouldn't do so—that you would leave things as they are. The only way to leave things as they are is to cast your vote with the ayes. Otherwise, you would be accepting a message from the Senate, which would be an action—a changing motion. Therefore, I agree with your decision to vote with the ayes and to use your casting vote with the ayes.

Mr Burke interjecting—

See this speech in context