Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, on the same point of order: the points raised by Senator Milne have a certain Alice in Wonderland quality to them. There is a circularity to the argument, which means that standing order 86 could never in fact be invoked; there would never in fact be the circumstances where it could be cited. We are not actually talking about something in the abstract here, because Senator Lazarus has in fact already circulated to the chamber the wording of the motion he seeks to move. So, we are not just talking about the suspension of standing orders in the abstract in order to allow Senator Lazarus to move a motion that we are unaware of the wording of. Senator Lazarus has circulated the motion in the chamber. He has made reference to it in his suspension motion. I would have thought that for the chamber to determine whether standing orders should or should not be suspended one of the very relevant considerations would in fact be the wording of the motion Senator Lazarus has circulated—which clearly, according to standing order 86, falls foul, because it is the same in substance as that moved last Tuesday. So, the only opportunity for yourself, Mr President, to form a ruling in relation to Senator Lazarus's substantive motion is now.