Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

Just before members leave, I want to flag—I'm not making a ruling at this point, at this time of night, I stress, just before the adjournment—that I am going to consider the same-motion rule, certainly over the next day or so. We only have a couple of days to go. The reason being of course, obviously, that if a motion is identical it breaches the same-motion rule. But as Practice points out, the same-motion rule also applies to motions that are the same in substance.

There have been 10 motions moved that really go to one core question, and that is that the member for Bowman be discharged from his committee and his committee chairmanship. The Practice also points out that this is at the chair's discretion, and it has been used sparingly. My initial attitude, of course, is that if there's new information that might cause the House to vote differently then that's worth thinking about. But I'm just flagging my concern now that if the House is making an identical decision pretty much every day—as I said, this is the 10th—it may well invoke that. But I do stress to those on my right that it has been used sparingly in the past. So I'll report back.

Mr Gosling interjecting—

The member for Solomon, of course, is not helping at all. Maybe I should have said it twice at the start: I'm not making a ruling or seeking to have a debate. I am just considering the matter, and, obviously, I'll discuss it with the Leader of the House and the Manager of Opposition Business in due course. And I'm happy to hear from the Manager of Opposition Business on this now.

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