House debates

Monday, 10 February 2020

Parliamentary Office Holders

Deputy Speaker

3:46 pm

Photo of Tony SmithTony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

Are there any further nominations? I draw to the attention of the House the matter that the Manager of Opposition Business raised with respect to the election of Deputy Speaker and Second Deputy Speaker and my approach to it. The Manager of Opposition Business and I have been reading the same pages of the standing orders and practice since last Thursday, no doubt. In the case of the election of Speaker, members will recall after the nominations the person nominated is asked whether they accept the nomination. With respect to the election of the Deputy Speaker and Second Deputy Speaker, there is a difference, and it's standing order 14 on page 19 for anyone interested. It says:

A nominee does not have to be present at the election or inform the House whether he or she accepts nomination.

Clearly the intention of that standing order is not to nominate and elect people against their will, because that would be a farcical situation where, if a member was elected Deputy Speaker and they didn't want to perform the role, they'd simply resign to me in writing, which is the only way to resign, and we'd have a series of never ending elections. The purpose of that is to enable someone who can't be here to be able to be nominated, and obviously the intention is they've communicated to the mover and seconder that they wish to be nominated. This is certainly the case where the member who's been nominated—the member for Wide Bay—was here, and is not here at this point. Under the standing orders, what we will do in proceeding to a ballot is ring the bells for five minutes. I'm going to say right now on the record, and I'll say it again just before the ballot, I will take the member for Wide Bay's absence and any subsequent appearance to vote as acceptance. But, if the member for Wide Bay informs me prior to the conduct of the ballot that he doesn't wish to be nominated, then I will declare the member for Nicholls elected. When the member for Wide Bay appears after the bells have rung, I will put it to him that I am taking it that his absence from the chamber and his return to vote is an acceptance of the nomination. I'm going to take that but I will still ask him whether he accepts the nomination. It says:

(a) A nominee does not have to be present at the election or inform the House whether he or she accepts nomination. So the requirement on a nominee is that they do not have to inform the House. I don't see anywhere where it prevents me from asking that; I really don't. What those standing orders say, and they shouldn't be read separately, is, if someone can't be here, they can still be nominated and they don't have to inform the House prior to that that they're going to accept the nomination. It says 'The nominee does not have to'. Nowhere there does it say 'The Speaker can't inquire'. I will just check there are no further nominations? There's not. I had that contingency covered as well.

The time for nominations has expired. In accordance with standing order 14, the bells will be rung and a ballot will be taken.

The bells having been rung—

As I foreshadowed to the House, the member for Wide Bay was nominated whilst he was not present. The member for Nicholls was nominated first. The member for Nicholls has had an opportunity, if he doesn't wish to accept the nomination, to say so, and he has not done so. The member for Wide Bay, you were nominated whilst you weren't in the chamber. Reference was made to the difference in the election of the Deputy Speaker and Second Deputy Speaker compared with the election of the Speaker, where, in the case of the election of the Speaker, the candidate or candidates must be asked whether they accept the nomination. Standing order 14(a) states:

A nominee does not have to be present at the election or inform the House whether he or she accepts nomination.

The intention of that is that people who can't be in the House can still be nominated without having to communicate in advance that they wish to accept any nomination that might be forthcoming. I keep a careful note. The member for Wide Bay was here for most of question time but not the end. He obviously had to leave the chamber for some reason. Now he's back, I need to say to him that, if he does not wish to accept the nomination, he needs to indicate that to the House.

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