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

I move:

That standing order 31 (automatic adjournment of the House) and standing order 33 (limit on business) be suspended for this sitting.

Just to make some very brief remarks for the benefit of members, it would appear that the Senate is proceeding more slowly than would be desired, I think, by members of the House of Representatives. We have had essentially one bill per day dealt with this week. There are at least eight outstanding bills that have been carried by this House that are in the Senate. The government has a big agenda; the government has a mandate for that agenda. We will sit for as long as it takes to have that agenda adopted.

I will keep the House updated because I think it is certainly in the interests of members—and might I say also staff of the House of Representatives and the parliament—that they be informed and are able to make arrangements. It is pretty clear that we will not be finishing at five o’clock today. It is highly likely that we will be here tomorrow for a short period of time and perhaps back next week. We will endeavour to make arrangements with the Manager of Opposition Business, who I would like to thank for his cooperation in these matters. We want the parliament to sit as is necessary to conduct the business of the House but not to sit unnecessarily in terms of time. So it is possible that we will adjourn for a period and come back later tonight and/or come back tomorrow morning as well. There is an open question then because of the time it takes to transmit bills between the houses of parliament.

I say to the Senate that there are costs involved. People should give proper consideration to ensuring that deliberations are conducted appropriately but in a way that is not one that takes unnecessary time but does not alter outcomes. I will update the House again on where we are up to around about question time or just afterwards. I thank the House.

Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Energy and Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just by way of clarification, and I am sure the Leader of the House has discussed this: if there is a sitting tomorrow, is it a continuation of today or is it a formal day as normal with a question time if we sit that long?

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

That will be a decision that will be made. The discussions that I have had with senior members of the opposition, particularly the Manager of Opposition Business, have centred on a short period of sitting tomorrow to deal with the bills. That is the intention of the government—a short period of sitting; not extending parliament. I understand that members of both sides of the House would have made arrangements in their electorates later on tomorrow afternoon. So the attempt will be made by the government, and I think with the cooperation of the opposition, to ensure that minimal extra time is spent in the House beyond that which is scheduled. I think that is in the interests of the House, certainly in the interests of the members, and I think will be to the relief of the parliamentary staff as well, whose consideration also has to be taken into account.

Question agreed to.