House debates

Thursday, 7 December 2017

Bills

Marriage Amendment (Definition and Religious Freedoms) Bill 2017; Consideration in Detail

10:48 am

Photo of Mr Tony BurkeMr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business (House)) Share this | Hansard source

sorry, Deakin; I apologise for that. Given that it appears to be an explanatory memorandum, we're not going to object to it being tabled, but I do need to flag for people that we are dealing with a conscience vote. The ordinary circumstance of me being able to provide leave on behalf of a whole lot of people, when we've got a 67-page document which I haven't read and none of us have read, is—just to flag for future tablings—a difficult ask. I appreciate that this is the first time I've raised that difficulty for the House. We'll grant leave for this to be tabled, but there are problems with the tabling of documents today in a general sense that I just need people to be aware of. I'm not in a position ordinarily to be able to give leave on behalf of the whole opposition on a conscience vote issue. But for this I can indicate, having checked, that leave is granted.

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