Points of Order — Bills—Availability in Urgency

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. Over three-quarters of an hour ago the Opposition raised with you the point that subsequent bills in the urgency motion were not on the Table of the House and the Opposition was not being given the opportunity to read the bills before we were due to debate them. You undertook to get that situation resolved for us, Mr Deputy Speaker, but I see that the bills are still not present for us to look at. We have some substantial pieces of legislation coming before us that we have not had a chance to read before the debate on them. I would like to know what progress you have made since you undertook to do that for the House.

I have sought advice. Standing Order 263 sets out the general rule, but it does not deal specifically with bills introduced under urgency. There is no requirement to table a bill prior to its introduction, but bills must be tabled at their introduction.

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I know you said that under urgency the situation is a little less clear than what it would normally be. In the normal course of events a bill is introduced, and it sits on the Table for 3 days before it is available for a first reading, thereby giving everybody the chance to read it before the debate. Urgency does change those rules slightly, and you have informed the House of that. But I wonder whether the junior Government whip could give the House an indication as to when members of Parliament might have the chance to look over legislation that we are soon to be debating. We had an understanding from the Government that it will make that information available, but nothing seems to be happening. We need to get some sense of clarity on that, because we—

💬 Hon Annette King: He’s on the phone.

I see he is on the phone now. He may well be on the phone to the Leader of the House to get that information. But it has now been quite some time since the House took urgency, and in terms of decency and fairness we need the chance to be able to read bills that will be coming up for debate directly after this one. It is just not right to be doing things in this way.

I understand the point you raise. There is, however, no requirement for a bill to be tabled prior to its introduction, but it must be tabled at the time of its introduction.