Page 2570 - Week 09 - Wednesday, 8 August 1990
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Commonwealth. Of course, that standing order refers to a - - -
Mr Jensen: I raise a point of order, Mr Acting Speaker. I got the distinct impression that Mr Berry was talking to dissenting from your ruling in relation to bringing on these two Bills, not in relation to the general issue of whether a dissent motion could be moved.
MR ACTING SPEAKER: Perhaps you would just clarify that, Mr Berry, because the Clerk has asked me the same thing.
MR BERRY: I have already made that clear. The Acting Speaker put three options. One of those was that I should talk on the dissent motion in the context of the Bills which are in question in the legal advice, and I have indicated that I do not intend to do that; that I intend to argue this in the context of whether I should be permitted to move a dissent motion.
MR ACTING SPEAKER: Perhaps I could press just one point, Mr Berry. Do you at some stage propose to seek to move dissent from my ruling on these two Bills?
MR BERRY: At some stage I do intend to do that, Mr Acting Speaker, but my intention is to get the endorsement of this house for the right of members to move dissent from the Speaker's ruling.
MR ACTING SPEAKER: From what I can gather, Mr Berry may have a fair bit of support for the principle that a member in this house should be able to move dissent from the Chair. Given that he gets support on that, I just wonder where we go from there. I have asked the Clerk to look into that and, on the face of it, that is perhaps not clear. That is why I think there is some merit in Mr Jensen's point of order as to what exactly we are debating because Mr Berry may well have support for that principle. But what we can do about it is another thing. I am just getting advice on that. Then, of course, there is the second question of Mr Berry's specific dissent from my ruling on these two Bills.
MR BERRY: Essentially, what I have set out to do - and I hope I have not thrown the house into too much confusion - is to have a motion carried in this place which supports the right of members to move to dissent from the Chair. My view on that is that once such a motion is carried it sets in stone a precedent for this Assembly - and here I use the same logic as you, Mr Acting Speaker, used in relation to previous decisions. If my motion is unclear, I can foreshadow a motion which would read something like, "that this Assembly endorses the right of members to move in dissent from the Chair".
MR ACTING SPEAKER: Mr Berry, I think that would be appropriate.
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