Urgent Debates Declined — COVID-19—Government’s Economic Management

I have received a letter from the Hon Nikki Kaye seeking to debate under Standing Order 389 the Government’s handling of the COVID-19 quarantine and managed isolation of travellers returning from overseas. I have also received a letter from the Hon Amy Adams seeking to debate the Government’s economic management, given the official GDP statistics for the March 2020 quarter. An ongoing situation or an accumulation of information on an issue is not itself a particular case of recent occurrence—Speakers’ rulings 195/1 and 2. The Government’s handling of COVID-19 or its management of the economy are ongoing matters. Applications for urgent debates must pinpoint, with some precision, a particular matter that has recently occurred. I will remind members that not raising a matter at the first opportunity will considerably weaken the case for an urgent debate application, and Speakers’ rulings 195/4 and 5 apply. The applications are therefore declined.

I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I don’t have a copy of the letter from the Hon Nikki Kaye to you in respect of the urgent application, but it was a specific triggering event as well as an accumulation of issues—that is the purview of Government responsibility—and that is the revelations around the management of the cases that have been the subject of media in the last 24 hours.

Yes, that matter was referred to in the letter. From memory—I’ll just get it here—the matter of urgent public importance relating to the Government’s handling of COVID-19 quarantine and managed isolation of travellers returning from overseas. That is the paragraph with the request in it, and that is a general matter and not a specific matter, which is referred to later. I will remind people of the further ruling that I made: if people are going to rely on specific matters, it is important that they are brought up in a timely matter. These were matters which were well discussed before the House sat yesterday.