House debates Bills
Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017; Second Reading
Mr Tony Burke Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance
10:40 am
Mr Speaker, leave is granted. Looking at the speakers list, we have in the order of 15 hours of debate ahead of us. There is an offer from the opposition to agree to additional sitting times—if at any point it is the wish of the House—in particular for tomorrow night, so we can finish the second reading debate speeches and vote on the second reading on Wednesday morning. And, secondly, the opposition is also willing to offer for speeches to be shortened to 10 minutes, rather than 15, to make sure we can get this legislation through this week. So that's put there as an offer. I've got a suspension of standing orders motion; it would be silly to move it now. Hopefully, we can reach accommodation within the chamber to make sure that we do get this done.
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