House debates

Monday, 23 March 2020

Business

Standing and Sessional Orders

11:07 pm

Photo of Christian PorterChristian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That standing order 47(c)(ii) be amended to read as follows:

(ii) can be carried only by an absolute majority of Members, or by a majority of Members present if agreed by the Leader of the House and the Manager of Opposition Business.

As I foreshadowed, this is a change to the standing orders. It might operate in tandem with the change to the sessional orders that we have just moved, or it might operate independently. Just by way of a structural explanation, the motion amends standing orders to change the way that an absolute majority is needed for a suspension of standing orders. Members are aware that, in order to suspend standing orders, an absolute majority must be achieved if the motion is without notice. An absolute majority in this current parliament is 76. There may be circumstances—and I think they have been highlighted today in the proceedings—in the present environment where the House may not be able to form an absolute majority of 76. An absolute majority can become very important if the House meets and is required for any accepted reason to suspend standing orders in order to achieve an outcome like those that have changed today's proceedings. This motion would amend the standing order to allow for a situation where the Leader of the House and the Manager of Opposition Business could agree that they would be able to allow for a suspension of standing orders to be passed without an absolute majority and, rather, by a simple majority of members present. I believe that change is important, and it may be a necessary mechanism—again, one we would hope not to use, or to use only very rarely, but one that it is prudent to have available to the House. Again, I thank the Manager of Opposition Business for his co-operation in the drafting of this motion and the earlier motion, which I've already read.

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