Roger Price (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to make a few brief remarks in support of the Manager of Opposition Business. Honourable members should be advised what time the joint sitting will take place. It seems extraordinary to me that in the motion before us the time is omitted. Mr Deputy Speaker, you may recall that the original schedule of sittings for the parliament included Monday, 10 September. In consequence of the visit by two prime ministers—not only the Canadian Prime Minister but also the Japanese Prime Minister—the Leader of the House changed the sitting pattern to remove Monday as a sitting day. You may recall that I asked the Speaker whether or not, in view of the fact that there was only one Prime Minister visiting, the Monday would be reinstated. Unfortunately, that is not going to happen.

If the Leader of the House or the Deputy Leader of the House were here they may be able to confirm whether or not the sitting pattern that week has been changed for the Senate—whether the other place will be sitting from Monday to Friday. I ask the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, who is at the table and is acting on behalf of the Leader of the House, or alternatively the Deputy Leader of the House, whether he can confirm these changed sitting arrangements. I know that all honourable members would be interested to learn whether or not that is the case in relation to the sitting week in the House that now commences not on Monday, 10 September but on Tuesday, 11 September.

Question agreed to.

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