Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

It's 150; he can't give leave to himself—150 plus one, Barnaby. So 150 people had the opportunity to say no—every one—and no-one did. At that point in time, the member for Nicholls moved his amendments and they're now before the House.

I'll ask you to consider this, Mr Speaker, in your deliberations: on a range of occasions when confronted with issues which are, shall we say, open to interpretation, Speakers have consistently made the determination that the House is the master of its own destiny. You have had a process whereby the House has determined to consider the amendments. That's the first point. The second part of that process is whether it agrees to the amendments or not, and that is a matter, again, in my view and my submission to you, for the House now. There is something before the House; it has been moved. It's been moved in accordance with the standing orders and processes. Leave was given, and then it was moved by the member for Nicholls, so now it is up to the House as to whether they agree to that or not. That is an important part of the process—that all of us have a responsibility to determine what we think about the amendments moved by the member for Nicholls.

For many members of the House that, unusually, could be an uncertain result, because it's pretty clear that the idea of the normal circumstances, whereby you have coalition members voting one way and Labor voting the other and the crossbenchers doing what they do, is not applying in this case. So I, for one, am very interested in the outcome, it must be said, and I wouldn't want anything other than members' right to exercise their views on this. I know that the member for Kingston and other members from South Australia are particularly interested in the casting of a vote on this position. I'd say, as I said, in conclusion, the first part has been done; it's been agreed by the House with leave that the amendments be moved. All that remains is for the House to determine its position, and I do not believe it would be appropriate, with respect, for the Speaker or for any other process to circumvent the casting of a democratic vote on the amendments moved by the member for Nicholls.

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