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

I've got a statement that might be of interest to members, which I wish to make very quickly just so all members and the wider press gallery hear it. It's just a few comments on an opinion piece published in The Australian today by Professor George Williams about the office of the Speaker. I want to point out at the start, of course, that he is entitled to all of his opinions and views, and I would never enter into discussion on those. However, I do wish to correct some factual errors in the piece that give a misleading impression. There's one very minor one: membership of this House is 151, not 150. That's minor.

The reason I'm raising this, though, is that, more importantly, Professor Williams states on Speakers that:

In the event of a tied vote, they should adopt the British convention of favouring further debate rather than supporting the government position.

Just to clarify, the convention in fact has a number of principles, which are:

In fact, Speakers in the House of Representatives have consistently followed this Westminster tradition. I wish to point out that I've exercised the casting vote six times, and I can assure you I remember every occasion. On each occasion I've exercised it according to the Westminster convention. In addition, some of my recent predecessors who I also wish to mention—Anna Burke and Harry Jenkins—exercised the casting vote on 14 occasions. On each of these, they exercised it according to the Westminster convention precisely. Since 1901, the casting vote has always been exercised in accordance with the Westminster convention, with the exception of a few occasions between 1910 and 1920, which are regarded as anomalies.

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

on indulgence—Given that the impartiality of the chair was challenged in that article, it's important for the opposition to say something. On the occasions when you have exercised that casting vote, Mr Speaker, you have followed those conventions to the letter and on occasions when points of order have been raised where we thought that you had not followed the conventions, you've considered it and, in your final decision, have followed them to the letter, including in particular the final vote of the last parliament. The opposition hopes it's not too long before you are exercising the casting vote again, Mr Speaker.