Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

(1) the House invite Her Excellency Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, to attend and address the House on Tuesday, 24 March 2026;

(2) unless otherwise ordered, at the sitting on 24 March:

(a) the House shall meet, at the ringing of the bells, at no earlier than 11.55 am and the proceedings shall be welcoming remarks by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and an address by the President of the European Commission;

(b) at the conclusion of the address by the President of the European Commission the House shall suspend until the ringing of the bells, at no earlier than 2.55 pm when business shall be Questions without notice;

(c) immediately after Question Time the House shall resume business in accordance with standing order 34;

(d) the provisions of standing order 257(c) relating to good order shall apply to the areas of Members' seats as well as the galleries for the period set out at (3); and

(e) that so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Federation Chamber from meeting at approximately 5 pm and the order of business being as follows:

(i) one hour of Members' constituency statements; and

(ii) one hour of grievance debate; and the Federation Chamber then adjourning immediately without debate;

(3) a message be sent to the Senate inviting Senators to attend the House as guests for the welcoming remarks by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition and address by the President of the European Commission; and

(4) any variation to the arrangement be made only by an action by the Speaker or by a motion moved by a Minister.

For the information of members, tomorrow, should this resolution be carried, the following will happen. The bells will ring at 11.55 as usual, but we will gather in the House for the address of the President of the European Commission. Following the address, the House will suspend. Members are aware that there is a physical alteration that happens to the chamber when we have a guest speak here. So we will suspend after the address, and the bells will ring again at 2.55 pm for question time to occur at three o'clock. After question time, we'll have the normal order of business. The Federation Chamber will not meet until 5 pm, and the only business in the Federation Chamber will be constituency statements and the grievance debate.

Question agreed to.

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