Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

No, I know the difficulty. I'm very familiar with the Practice, and I will get out the page. I'm just going to familiarise members with this issue; I've had a lot of cause to reflect on it. I'll helpfully get the page in a second, if I can, from the Practice, which I can find if members want, where it states that a closure motion can be moved during the moving of a motion, during a seconding of a motion, at any time before the chair has stated the question. The other principle at stake is: when members seek the call—the Leader of the House was there seeking the call immediately afterwards—you don't want a precedent where I don't give members the call. The only difference here is that what normally happens has happened a little bit later, but it has happened just in time. I'll hear from the Manager of Opposition Business.

See this speech in context