Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

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

In moving the motion, I might explain that the House has a couple of bills that we're dealing with right now that we'd like to finish by the time the House rises for Easter. That's not the reason we'll be suspending the adjournment and the end of the sitting. There is a bill still being debated in the Senate, which will be amended. That bill will need to come back to the House of Representatives and be passed before the end of this session, which means that, while it's very unlikely that we will sit well into the night, we might have to sit till about half past eight or thereabouts, in which case we can't, unfortunately, arise at 7.30 for the adjournment and leave at eight. For the benefit of covering the government and for the parliament we're moving these motions. If that changes, of course, we'll immediately adjourn the House if there is an earlier reporting from the Senate, but there is an amendment to a government bill that we need to address before we rise.

Question agreed to.