Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources and Northern Australia—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Capricornia will resume her seat. The member for Sydney is warned, as is the member for Gellibrand. I refer members to my earlier statement. I will start lowering the volume if this persists. The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to raise two matters with you, Mr Speaker: one with respect to Practice and one with respect to a resolution carried by the House earlier today. Page 47 of Practice makes clear that:

Section 64 further provides that after the first general election no Minister of State can hold office for a longer period than three months unless he or she is or becomes a Senator or a Member of the House of Representatives.

Earlier today, the House unanimously resolved to refer to the High Court:

(a) whether, by reason of section 44(i) of the Constitution, the place of the Member for New England (Mr Joyce) has become vacant.

In a circumstance where the House has unanimously resolved that we do not know whether or not he has the qualifications required to hold office as a minister in this government, he should not be here on the floor answering questions.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was ready to rule, but, given the issues that are at stake, I do want to hear from the Leader of the House. I don't want to cut him off.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, until such a time as the High Court decides otherwise—

Ms Husar interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Lindsay is warned.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

the member for New England is duly elected and therefore has every right to sit in the House, unless his status is chosen to be different by the High Court. As a consequence, he can be the deputy—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the House will resume his seat.

Mr Albanese interjecting—

The member for Grayndler is warned. I've listened very carefully to the Manager of Opposition Business. The House passed a resolution referring the matter to the High Court. The High Court will determine the matter. If the High Court determines that there is a vacancy, that's when that occurs, not when the Manager of Opposition Business raises a point of order. The member for Capricornia needs to ask the question again because I could not hear it.

Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources and Northern Australia. Will the Deputy Prime Minister outline to the House how the government is growing Australia's economy by backing our $63 billion agriculture sector? What effect will alternative policies have on jobs and cost of living across regional Australia, particularly in my electorate of Capricornia?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Prime Minister will resume his seat.

Mr Perrett interjecting—

The member for Moreton will leave under 94(a). I'm not proceeding until he has left. I'm quite patient, anyway.

The member for Moreton then left the chamber.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the member be no longer heard.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the member be no further heard.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying before the division—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I refer you to page 528 of Practice, which makes clear that if there is a point of order or a motion of dissent there will be a pausing of the clock, but it does not say that such a thing should happen where you have a procedural motion such as the House has just dealt with.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The difficulty the Manager of Opposition Business has is that he first jumped on a point of order.

Mr Burke interjecting—

No, the Manager of Opposition Business did, because he asked whether the member should be able to do certain things in wake of the motion that had been put, and I ruled on that point of order after hearing him and the Leader of the House. I will hear from the Manager of Opposition Business again.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, there were two moments when I rose. The first time I rose was when the question was commenced, and it was to the Deputy Prime Minister. You made a ruling. I resumed my seat; you made a ruling. You then asked the questioner to complete the question. The questioner completed the question. The Deputy Prime Minister stood up. At that point I rose to my feet again. It was well after I dealt with the point of order and you had ruled on it. And the only thing that I did was move that the member be no longer heard.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Okay. The clock wasn't stopped, because that has been the practice. We have time limits. Perhaps members on both sides can hear me on this; on some matters I'm happy to be in your hands, to be honest. We have time limits on both questions and answers. That's been the practice in the past with respect to questions. It's completely different with respect to other motions that are moved. I'm happy to be corrected. My recollection is that these motions were moved in the 43rd Parliament—certainly. That has been the practice. When it comes to question time—and I'm going to remind members of another matter in a second—that has been the practice. If members feel that strongly about it that they think the clock should have kept running, and that's, frankly, a device they want to use, I just caution them that that device cuts both ways; it really does.

Can I also point out—and I know that the Manager of Opposition Business well knows this—the motion he moved during question time is not often moved during question time. It can be moved on a minister giving an answer. Can I also say for the interests of clarity that, equally, it can be moved by a government minister on anyone asking the question. My interest is in free-flowing debate. I've always made that clear. So I say: be careful what you wish for. My view on the Deputy Prime Minister is that, having had that motion moved on him, the House having determined it and negatived it, it is an unreasonable restriction not to allow him to resume. That's my view, and I think that should be the practice of the House. That's my view. The Deputy Prime Minister.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I thank you very much for that. I thank the honourable member for her question. May I say that our agricultural production has grown incredibly under this coalition government—in fact, by about 29 per cent since we've been the government. We continue to work so hard that Queensland's gross value of agriculture production has grown by 19 per cent. Agriculture under the coalition government has been one of the great success stories of this government, and we have brought the money back into our nation.

We continue to work for our nation in the building of massive infrastructure. It's very important that we understand that the inland rail—a corridor of commerce from Melbourne up to Brisbane through the inland: Seymour, Wodonga, Parkes, Narrabri, Moree and Goondiwindi—gives the capacity for our nation to grow even further. What we note as well is that, as it grows, it has the capacity for people to have great opportunities out in regional areas. We also note that the Labor Party, on the other side, have no intention of building inland rail. They have not put money towards the inland rail. It's as close as they can get to say it's a good idea.

We also stand behind Rookwood Weir. This is terribly important for the member for Capricornia and the member for Flynn. We have put $138 million on the table for that. The Labor Party, because they want green votes, are willing to flush Central Queensland down the toilet. They don't believe in Central Queensland. They don't believe in the coalminers in Central Queensland. They don't believe in the cattle producers in Central Queensland. They don't believe in the dams in Central Queensland. They believe in nothing for Central Queensland. When we ask the Leader of the Opposition to go to Central Queensland, what does he offer the member for Capricornia? Public transport. A new light rail for Alpha. I don't know what we're going to have. A new ferry across the Fitzroy River. That's about as close as we get to anything positive from the Labor Party, which used to represent labourers. Once upon a time they represented labourers, but they don't represent labourers anymore. There are no labourers over there anymore. So they've given up on labourers. That's a shame, because up in Townsville, with youth unemployment at 20 per cent, what does the member for Townsville do for North Queensland? When is she going to stand up for North Queensland? When is she going to stand up for her people? When is she going to go into bat? When is she going to stand up for the Galilee Basin? When is she going to get that coalmine out of the courts? She won't. The Labor Party have nothing to say for jobs in this chamber. They have nothing but this peculiar art form of parliamentary tactics. Why don't you start standing up for jobs?

While you're at it, we see the new taxes you're bringing in—$130 billion in taxes—and family trusts. They're going to tax family trusts. Let's see who has got a family trust in the Labor Party. The member for Sydney has got a family trust. The member for Batman has got a family trust. The member for Gellibrand has got a family trust. The member for Burt has got a good trust. The member for Wills and the member for Longman—a lot of people in the Labor Party don't believe in their own side— (Time expired)

Mr Snowdon interjecting—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Lingiari will withdraw.

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw but I just suggest—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Lingiari will now withdraw from the chamber under 94(a).

The member for Lingiari then left the chamber.