Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I will not delay the House for long. The Leader of the House has outlined the situation perfectly factually with a little bit of gilding the lily at the end, but we will put that to one side. Obviously, the agreement for a better parliament that the government, the opposition and the crossbenches agreed to required that when a vote is recommitted there be a suspension of standing orders and that could lead to a debate. On this occasion it is perfectly transparent that if the member for Mallee had been here the opposition would have succeeded in the passing of the second reading of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Public Health and Safety) Bill 2010. We will therefore agree to the recommittal of this vote and then proceed directly to a vote in the House.

We hope that the member for Mallee recovers swiftly. We also apologise for not knowing that he may not be able to attend this morning’s vote. Having discovered those facts, I thank the Leader of the House and the government for acting in what is an entirely appropriate way. I look forward to proceeding to the vote.

Question put:

That the motion (Mr Albanese’s) be agreed to.

Question agreed to, with an absolute majority.

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