Points of Order — Absence of Members from the House—Rules

I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I have been handed a list of the new seating arrangements in the House. There appears to be no seat for Mr Lindsay Tisch. I would like to be assured, given Mr Tisch’s sterling service as a whip in this House, that he will be provided with a seat on his next appearance in Parliament.

I take it that the Leader of the House is offering us the seat of the honourable Phillip Field, who, of course, is no longer in Parliament; instead he is out there collecting a massive salary at the grace and favour of Helen Clark. I raise a further point of order, Madam Speaker.

💬 Madam SPEAKER: That probably was not a point of order, but we will get to the point of order.

Well, it does concern the status of the honourable Phillip Field. We are told that this member is on leave at the moment, supposedly suspended from his parliamentary duties. Well, it is news to us—and it has been for some time—that the Prime Minister has the capacity to suspend anybody from the Parliament when he or she has been duly elected. Madam Speaker, we would like to know what your view is on this particular situation, given that Mr Field has not been in the House for a very considerable period of time now. We are told that the police inquiry will go on for some months into next year, and that Mr Field will, apparently, not be making any appearance in the House for that time. Regardless of whatever the Prime Minister says, Mr Field has a duty to his constituents to be here, and that is a duty I believe you, Madam Speaker, have a role in upholding.

First of all, the seating arrangements in the House are, of course, a matter for the party concerned, and that matter, I think, has been addressed. I will take advice on the other. I will address the question; I will take advice on it.