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

On that basis, I move:

That the ruling be dissented from.

I make clear to the House that in doing this very unusually—I think you were the first since the first Speaker to be nominated by both sides of the House—this is something we do not do lightly. We have resisted at all times doing anything that would in any way be seen to be a lack of confidence in your ruling. There have been rulings we've liked and plenty we haven't, but your consistency with respect to the standing orders is not something that we've ever questioned. Our reason for moving that your ruling be dissented from is simply this: we want the opportunity for the House to have the debate that has come forward to us today. In giving leave we believed we were giving that opportunity, but if it requires an additional vote of the House then we'll do it that way. I flag that my other course of action would have been to move a suspension of standing orders. That option is not open to us simply because of COVID. A whole lot of people have had to get back across borders, which makes it impossible to get to 76 votes; otherwise, that would have been our preferred course of action.

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