Business Statement

on behalf of the Acting Leader of the House: I am the acting Acting Leader of the House today, not the Attorney-General. When the House resumes on Tuesday, 9 August, the Government intends to complete the Committee stage of the Appropriation (2011/2012 Estimates) Bill, before proceeding to the third reading. The Government also intends to make further progress on the Electoral (Administration) Amendment Bill (No 2).

Through you, Mr Speaker, can I ask the acting Acting Leader of the House two questions. The first is whether the intention is to proceed straight to the third reading of the appropriations legislation, and, if so, will that be done under urgency? The second question is whether in future we can rely on minutes or notifications from the office of the Leader of the House that indicate House business, or are we to have repeats of what happened yesterday, when they were misleading?

As to the second question, I will not dignify it with a response. As to the first point, on issues of urgency the Acting Leader of the House anticipated the inquiry and is open to having a discussion with the shadow Leader of the House next week both in terms of the appropriation bill and what future weeks look like.