House debates Questions to the Speaker
Matters of Public Importance
Christopher Pyne Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training
3:33 pm
I refer you to the ‘Agreement for a better parliament—parliamentary reform’ that I signed with the Leader of the House and the Independents on 6 September 2010, and the section which says, with respect to matters of public importance:
A proportionate share of Matters of Public Importance be allocated to all non-Government Members.
I refer you to your decision to, in fact, award the MPI today to the member for Chifley, who is a government member. I simply ask you: will the agreement for a better parliament not be honoured?
Harry Jenkins Speaker
I am the custodian of the standing orders and practice and I carried out my responsibilities according to the standing orders and practice. This may be seen as me being a bit hoity: I was not a signatory to the agreement. Some people think that, when I say that, I am spitting the dummy, but the point is that I was not.