Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

That hasn't been the practice of the House. As I said, if I were to allow this motion, this would be the last one. But I am concerned with the argument that has been put. The Manager of Opposition Business has been at that dispatch box and spoken about if something doesn't happen or does happen on the government side. It sets a precedent, and I've got to take that into account as well.

I think we need to move on. I'm inclined not to accept the motion, I have to say, because I think that what you'd be doing then is really saying that every time we get to the third reading you're going to invoke a principle of the practice of this House which doesn't exist. That's my view, and it would be another bill on another day where a member is invoking a principle—a very strongly-held principle—that the third reading must have a gap between for people to consider it. That is not how the House has operated. Having considered the matter—and having the time that I needed to do that in not having had it before me, as I said at the start—and actually having even been prepared to consider that motion going ahead just a few minutes ago, that's certainly not in the interests of the House because it would mean that every piece of legislation could be disrupted in that fashion. So I'm not going to allow the motion. The Leader of the House.

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