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- 12 May 2004
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Page: 8885
Mr SPEAKER: Order! I name the honourable member for Coffs Harbour for persistently and wilfully obstructing the business of this House.
Mr CARL SCULLY (Smithfield—Minister for Roads, and Minister for Housing) [2.34 p.m.]: I move:
That the honourable member for Coffs Harbour, Mr Fraser, be suspended from the service of the House.
Mr ANDREW FRASER: Mr Speaker, I am absolutely amazed at your partial conduct as the independent Speaker of this Chamber. I rose to take a point of order under standing order 105, and I will take that point of order now. The standing order states that when a member rises on a point of order the Speaker shall hear the point of order and the member who was speaking shall resume his seat. On more than one occasion in this House in this session and in other sessions the Premier has repeatedly ignored the fact that a point of order has been taken and has refused to recognise the call "Point of order". Mr Speaker, we have now reached the ludicrous stage where you are not taking points of order on the assumption that the point of order may provide further information. That reveals to me that you are abrogating your responsibility as an impartial Speaker of this House.
Mr Speaker, you are always saying that you and Government members know the standing orders of this House. However, I put it you that you do not have even a rudimentary knowledge of the standing orders. I point out that the Standing Orders and Procedure Committee of this House has not met in five years. You are a new Speaker, appointed after the last State election, but you have not deemed it necessary to call a meeting of the Standing Orders and Procedure Committee. I suggest that is because you do not know what Standing Rules and Orders is, let alone what it contains. In fact, Mr Speaker, on more than one occasion in this House during the past session you took instruction from the Leader of the House, Minister for Roads, and Minister for Housing, as to which members should go and which should stay, and which points of order should be heard and which should not.
Your refusal to accept my point of order under standing order 105 is an abrogation of your responsibility to me as a member of this House, to every other member in this place, to the people of my electorate and to every other person in this State. As far as I am concerned, when you can show some impartiality in your job you will have the respect of both sides of the House. I put it to you, Mr Speaker, that at present you do not have even the respect of the Premier or Government members because they know full well that they can dictate to you at any time what they deem your duties to be.
Look at the way in which you conducted the business of the House yesterday. Every time an Opposition member interjected, laughed or made any noise or comment that member was called to order. But when the Premier was on his feet conducting his theatrical circus you did not call one Government member to order. You allowed the Premier to continue his nonsense and in so doing you—not the members—made a laughing stock of this Parliament and this State. I, for one, believe in the standing orders of this House. The basic tenet of standing order 105 is that the Speaker shall hear a point of order and then rule on it. Twice today—and we are only about 10 minutes into question time—you have refused to accept a point of order. You have refused to direct the Premier to be seated, as standing order 105 insists, when a point of order is made or is sought to be made. Yet when I insisted on my right as a member of this Chamber and as a representative of the people of the Coffs Harbour electorate to make an objection under that standing order, you decided that my point of order will not be accepted and you directed that the Sergeant-at-Arms remove me from this House.
Mr Carl Scully: A good ruling.
Mr ANDREW FRASER: Here is an example of who actually rules this House—Carl Scully, the man who would be king when Carr goes. Mr Speaker, I appeal to you, firstly, to uphold the standing orders of this House. Secondly, I challenge you to call a meeting of the Standing Orders Committee so that if you do not agree with the standing orders you may have them overturned by your Labor lackey mates.
Question—That the honourable member for Coffs Harbour be suspended from the service of the House—put.
The House divided.
Ayes, 48
Mr Amery
Ms Andrews
Mr Bartlett
Ms Beamer
Mr Black
Mr Brown
Ms Burney
Mr Campbell
Mr Carr
Mr Collier
Mr Corrigan
Mr Crittenden
Ms D'Amore
Mr Debus
Ms Gadiel
Mr Gaudry
Mr Gibson | Mr Greene
Ms Hay
Mr Hunter
Ms Judge
Ms Keneally
Mr Knowles
Mr Lynch
Mr McBride
Mr McLeay
Ms Meagher
Ms Megarrity
Mr Mills
Mr Morris
Mr Newell
Ms Nori
Mr Orkopoulos
Mrs Paluzzano | Mr Pearce
Mr Price
Dr Refshauge
Mr Sartor
Mr Scully
Mr Shearan
Mr Stewart
Mr Tripodi
Mr Watkins
Mr West
Mr Whan
Mr Yeadon
Tellers,
Mr Ashton
Mr Martin |
Noes, 34
Mr Armstrong
Mr Barr
Ms Berejiklian
Mr Brogden
Mr Cansdell
Mr Debnam
Mr Draper
Mr Fraser
Mrs Hancock
Mr Hartcher
Mr Hazzard
Ms Hodgkinson | Mr Humpherson
Mr Kerr
Mr McGrane
Mr Merton
Ms Moore
Mr O'Farrell
Mr Page
Mr Piccoli
Mr Pringle
Mr Richardson
Mr Roberts
Ms Seaton | Mrs Skinner
Mr Slack-Smith
Mr Souris
Mr Stoner
Mr Tink
Mr Torbay
Mr J. H. Turner
Mr R.W. Turner
Tellers,
Mr George
Mr Maguire |
Pairs
| Ms Allan | Mr Aplin |
| Mr Iemma | Mr Constance |
| Ms Saliba | Mrs Hopwood |
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Motion agreed to.
Mr SPEAKER: Order! This being the first occasion during this session upon which the honourable member for Coffs Harbour has been suspended, his suspension will be for two sitting days.
[The honourable member for Coffs Harbour left the Chamber, accompanied by the Deputy Serjeant-at-Arms.]
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