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

I want to thank the Leader of the House for the productive conversations that have led to this. Today is only possible because of cooperation. In acknowledging our support of the suspension motion that's been put forward, I should also acknowledge the cooperation of those who are not here. There are a large number of members of parliament who want to be here today and are not because they understand the circumstances that we're in and the importance of the different distancing measures that are in place. I also want to acknowledge the cooperation from you, Mr Speaker. To save time, I will raise something now and perhaps after we've dealt with the suspension you could deal with it. There has been some question as to whether today people who are not sitting on the front bench should speak from their allocated place—as in the new allocation—or whether they should speak from the ordinary seating plan. If you could clarify that at the end, that would be appreciated.

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