Smoke-free Environments Amendment Bill

Mr Speaker, there seems to be some concern over the acceptance of the closure motion. It is my recollection that I put the question that the question be now put, I turned to the Government side and members said “Yes”, and I turned to the Opposition and members said “No”. There was quite an uproar while this was going on and it was difficult to hear. I did eventually hear the Hon Peter Dunne take a point of order. I then took the point of order straight away. There the matter rests, but there is some disagreement on how that happened.

💬 Mr SPEAKER: I will hear one comment.

My clear recollection is that Mr Hughes moved that the closure take place. There was uproar because a number of members, particularly on this side of the Committee—I think I counted about 12 or 14 members—were seeking the call. I immediately saw what was likely to happen, and sought to call very loudly for a point of order. I did so several times. The Chairman commenced, but did not complete, the vote before he heard me, then called me to speak. That led to your recall where you ruled that had the motion been put and carried we would have to proceed with the vote. My point is that the vote had not been completed, no result had been declared, and there had been no request for a party vote or anything of that order. Therefore, the vote was not completed. Therefore, when the Committee got to five to 10 this evening, and certainly now at two minutes past 10, the business is not complete and it is appropriate for the House to be lifted.

I refer the honourable member to Standing Order 51, which deals with this matter absolutely precisely. The chairperson did accept the closure motion and commenced to put the question. It does not matter how far he got; under Standing Order 51 the time to report progress is deferred until the closure is determined and any consequential questions are determined.

In Committee

Debate resumed.

Part 3 Other amendments (continued)