John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Acting Deputy President, I heard the point of order as I was entering the chamber and, in a disorderly comment, I actually said that you are able to refer to a vote in the chamber. Madam Acting Deputy President, you may well accept Senator Parry’s invitation to raise that matter with the President, but I would make this point to you: there is nothing to prevent any senator at any time from referring to a vote in the chamber. There is, of course, a standing order that relates to reflecting on a vote in the chamber. When Senator Parry made his point of order, he actually used the terminology ‘referring’, and I made a comment as a result of that. But I would respectfully suggest that that is a very different issue from a point of order that might be taken—a matter for ruling, of course, by the chair—about reflecting on a vote of the Senate. There is a substantive difference, and I would respectfully suggest that Senator Parry needs to take account of that.