BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE
Suspension of Standing Orders
Mr WHELAN (Ashfield - Minister for Police) [3.27]: Mr Speaker, I ask leave of the House to move a motion for suspension of standing orders to permit consideration forthwith of the notice of motion, general business given by the Leader of the Opposition.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Could I just interrupt the Leader of the House. There is one matter I need to call over and that is orders of the day for bills.
Mr Downy: Mr Speaker -
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I will come back to you. This is a machinery matter which was left out of the business at an earlier stage. This is a call-over of orders of the day for bills, general business.
[Placing or Disposal of Business.]
Mr Whelan: Now that the call-over has been concluded, I ask leave of the House to move a motion for suspension of standing orders to permit consideration forthwith of the notice of motion for general business given by the Leader of the Opposition this day relating to the censure of the Minister for Fair Trading.
Mrs Chikarovski: On a point of order. Mr Speaker, prior to the Leader of the House rising you had indicated to the honourable member for Sutherland that you would give him the call immediately after -
Mr SPEAKER: Order! No.
Mrs Chikarovski: As you are aware, Mr Speaker, he had something to -
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The honourable member misunderstood the sequence. I had already called the Minister before I realised I had omitted an earlier call-over. I asked the Minister to be seated and the member for Sutherland indicated that he wished to speak. I indicated to the member that he should wait until I had finished the call-over of business. However, the Minister had the call in the first place.
Motion, by leave, by Mr Whelan agreed to:
That standing orders be suspended to allow the consideration forthwith of the censure motion, notice of which was given this day for tomorrow.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The honourable member for Sutherland.
Mr Downy: Mr Speaker -
Mr Rozzoli: On a point of order. I point out to you that this House has just passed a motion suspending so much of standing orders as would preclude consideration of a certain motion.
Mr Whelan: Do you want to hear from him?
Mr Rozzoli: Whilst I certainly want to hear the personal explanation from the member for Sutherland, the action of the Minister in insisting on putting his motion has cut out the opportunity for the making of a personal explanation until the motion is dispensed with.
Mr Whelan: On the point of order. That is the most ridiculous point of order I have ever heard in my life. Not only did the honourable member for Hawkesbury hamstring his speaker yesterday; he has crippled him today. He has placed Mr Speaker in a position in which he has to uphold the honourable member's point of order. That means that the honourable member for Sutherland will have to wait one hour and fifteen minutes for the conclusion of the censure debate. If that is the case, that is not my intention. It was never the intention of the Government to stop the honourable member for Sutherland saying immediately what he wanted to the House.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! Is it the wish of the House that leave be given for the member for Sutherland to make a personal explanation?
Leave granted.