Business of the House

Mr JOHN AQUILINA (Riverstone—Leader of the House) [1.00 p.m.]: I move:

That standing and sessional orders be suspended:

(1) For the remainder of the budget sittings to:

(a) permit the scheduled sittings of the House on Tuesdays and Wednesday to be extended to permit the consideration of Government Business;

(b) on Tuesdays, Government Business to be considered from 4.30 p.m. until 6.30 p.m., and then from 7.30 p.m. until the adjournment of the House on motion;

(c) on Wednesdays Government Business to be considered from 4.30 p.m. until 6.30 p.m. and from 7.30 p.m., with private members' statements to be taken at the conclusion of Government Business, and the House to adjourn on motion;

(d) matters of public importance to not be called on; and

(e) on Thursdays the House to adjourn on motion.

(2) At this sitting, the motion according priority to be not called on, and the motion of no confidence in the Minister for Health to be considered from 7.30 p.m. and

(3) On Thursday 5 June 2008, Government Business to take precedence of General Business between 4.30 p.m. and 5.30 p.m.

It is with some reluctance that I move the motion, but the Government has an avalanche of legislation that must be debated and passed through the House during the budget session. This is testimony to a hardworking Government, which has passed a number of bills during this session. It is important that the Government introduce and debate a number of other bills and enact further legislation. We are cognisant of the need to maintain private members' statements, general business and motions accorded priority, but also we are mindful of the fact that we have a limited number of days to deal with legislation. I understand that the Legislative Council has some 40 bills be deal with, and the Legislative Assembly has a large number of bills to debate.

Today the Treasurer handed down the budget, and the Government must introduce and deal with a number of matters before the Parliament rises for the winter recess. The Government is keen to get on with the job of governing the State and to enact legislation that is of great importance to the citizens of New South Wales. The motion will enable that legislation to be introduced, debated and enacted later this year, although a considerable amount of legislation will be put in place before 1 July 2008. I leave it to the will of the House.

Mr ADRIAN PICCOLI (Murrumbidgee) [1.04 p.m.]: The Opposition will not support the motion to suspend standing and sessional orders for several reasons. At the end of last year the House debated changes to the standing orders that would affect the sitting times of the House. Further amendments were made to those standing orders in April this year—only one month ago—following negotiations with the Speaker, the Leader of the House, Government and Opposition whips and some crossbench members. The new sitting times would make the House more family friendly and produce significant savings in the cost of running the House. All that is now being thrown out the door.

Members were given notice of the motion today. Members of Parliament are used to having their lives thrown into chaos—we signed up for that—but the lives of House attendants, Hansard staff and others will be thrown into chaos if the motion is passed. The Government did very little during the first four to six sitting weeks this year. The upper House dealt with very little government business. By 5 o'clock the lights were turned off in the other place. What was the Government doing at the beginning of the year? Its lack of activity earlier in the year is a demonstration of the hopeless way the Government runs the Parliament. If it cannot run the Parliament how can it run the State? Indeed, when one considers the way the Parliament is run, it is no surprise that transport, health, infrastructure, and education are in chaos.

If Parliament had been run properly and the Government had introduced a proper legislative program throughout the year, the sitting hours that were agreed to towards the end of last year and earlier this year could have been sustained. A couple of female Labor members would be happy with the motion. They complained about changing to family friendly hours because they feared they would be expected to go into their electorates and do some work. I cannot remember who they were and I do not want to verbal anyone.

The SPEAKER: Order! Members on the Government benches will remain silent.

Mr ADRIAN PICCOLI: A couple of female Government members who were a bit upset about the earlier finishing time because of the expectation that they would have to do some work probably have been lobbying behind the scenes for an extension of the hours. Last year members negotiated an agreement, supported by the Speaker, for family friendly hours, and those hours should be adhered to. Another reason that the Opposition will not support the motion is that matters of public importance, which usually involve non-partisan discussion, will be scrapped. It is an opportunity for Government, Opposition and crossbench members to raise important issues relevant to the State, not just to their electorates.

Mr Daryl Maguire: The Government is effectively gagging debate.

Mr ADRIAN PICCOLI: As the member for Wagga Wagga rightly said, the Government is trying to gag debate on matters of public importance. I know that contentious legislation, such as planning and electricity privatisation, will be rammed through the Parliament. However, the Government has known that all year. It should not ram through legislation in the last few weeks of the session, nor should it disrupt everything. Changing the sitting hours of the House will cost taxpayers enormous sums of money. If this is the way the Government runs the House it is no wonder New South Wales is in its present state.

Mr JOHN AQUILINA (Riverstone—Leader of the House) [1.09 p.m.], in reply: The member for Murrumbidgee spoke about the time we took to establish the new sessional orders. They have worked well for the bulk of this budgetary session; members have been able to go home in record time. I am the longest-serving member in the House and I cannot remember during a budget sittings ever arriving home as early as I have this session, despite, as Leader of the House, usually being the last one to leave this place. Members appreciate that since time immemorial legislation always logjams towards the end of a session. In the 152-year history of the Legislative Assembly that has always been the case; and it certainly has been the case since I have been a member of this place. That is not due to any downfall in the planning process; rather, it is the introduction of new legislation during a session. The community is hyperactive in proposing what government should do and during a session legislation must be drawn up, put through Cabinet, debated in the respective Houses and then enacted, irrespective of which party is in government—I have been in this House as both the Government and the Opposition.

Towards the end of the session contemporary issues of vital importance to the progress and proper development of the State and to the people of New South Wales must be debated. For those reasons, I reluctantly seek to change the Legislative Assembly administrative process to ensure that important legislation is properly debated and forwarded to the upper House for debate. Incidentally, regardless of what we decide, the upper House, despite its best intentions to adjourn early, will have to sit late to debate the large number of important bills it has received from the Legislative Assembly. Therefore, it is unnecessary to raise the economy of running the Parliament. Upper House debates are more fulsome than those in the Legislative Assembly and its members are not constrained by the time limits that are set out in the Legislative Assembly sessional orders. Consequently, the Legislative Council will have to sit late to complete its legislative program: the Legislative Assembly will piggyback on the Legislative Council's program to get through its legislative program. For those reasons, I commend the motion to the House. I thank members in advance for their understanding and particularly for their patience over the next three weeks.

Question—That the motion be agreed to—put.

The House divided.

Mr Amery Ms Andrews Mr Aquilina Ms Beamer Mr Borger Mr Brown Ms Burney Mr Campbell Mr Collier Mr Coombs Mr Corrigan Mr Costa Ms D'Amore Mr Daley Ms Firth Ms Gadiel Mr Gibson

Mr Greene Mr Harris Ms Hay Mr Hickey Ms Hornery Ms Judge Ms Keneally Mr Khoshaba Mr Koperberg Mr Lynch Mr McBride Dr McDonald Ms McKay Mr McLeay Ms McMahon Ms Meagher Ms Megarrity

Mr Morris Mrs Paluzzano Mr Pearce Mrs Perry Mr Rees Mr Sartor Mr Shearan Mr Stewart Ms Tebbutt Mr Terenzini Mr Tripodi Mr Watkins Mr West Mr Whan Tellers, Mr Ashton Mr Martin

Mr Aplin Mr Baird Mr Baumann Ms Berejiklian Mr Cansdell Mr Constance Mr Debnam Mr Draper Mrs Fardell Mr Fraser Mrs Hancock Mr Hartcher Mr Hazzard

Ms Hodgkinson Mrs Hopwood Mr Humphries Mr Kerr Mr Merton Ms Moore Mr Oakeshott Mr O'Dea Mr O'Farrell Mr Page Mr Piccoli Mr Provest Mr Richardson

Mr Roberts Mrs Skinner Mr Smith Mr Stokes Mr Stoner Mr J. H. Turner Mr R. W. Turner Mr J. D. Williams Mr R. C. Williams Tellers, Mr George Mr Maguire

Question resolved in the affirmative.

Motion agreed to.