Page 4756 - Week 11 - Thursday, 20 October 2011
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about Mr Doszpot’s item of Assembly business. It was agreed that that was important to happen. They also acknowledged that this was not a typical sitting day.
Mrs Dunne: You said that.
MS BRESNAN: No, we all actually said that, Mrs Dunne. We talked about that in admin and procedure. We talked about actually trying to work out a fair process whereby Mr Doszpot can have his item of Assembly business and we can get through legislation. Let us actually come to an agreement being respectful of the fact that we all attended the visit to Floriade this morning and recognising that this was not a typical day.
I acknowledge what Mrs Dunne said. We talked about not having an MPI and we said that we would take it back to our party rooms. But what was also said in admin and procedure is that nobody saw this as being a problem because we agreed again that Thursday was not a typical day. We also did agree—we also discussed in admin and procedure that we would not sit late, that we would sit to the typical time.
Mrs Dunne: No, you said you would not sit late.
MS BRESNAN: No, Mrs Dunne, that was actually what was discussed. That was discussed in admin and procedure. I think the problem we are also experiencing is that we are becoming quite frustrated with this ongoing process where agreements reached in admin and procedure and other agreements reached between the whips are not being respected and adhered to by the Liberal Party group. It is becoming increasingly difficult to be able to advise my colleagues what we can expect in a particular sitting day because it is continually changing.
On the issue of the Liberal Party whip, Mrs Dunne has made the point that we cannot talk about timing and issues in admin and procedure because that needs to be done between the party whips. I would like to point out, Mrs Dunne, that we should be able to discuss those issues at admin and procedure, as I understand has been done in the past. But the problem that is the Liberal Party whip does not actually sit on admin and procedure, so it makes it very difficult to discuss those issues.
I think all we are actually seeing here is the Liberal party trying to adopt some Tony Abbott style approach to wrecking the parliament. That is what we see. We have seen that. We have the usual argy-bargy of politics but we also try to actually have a process whereby, in the way the parliament sits, if we have particular days like today we can have a process that everybody agrees on and we can get the business of the parliament done. But we are not getting that from the Liberal Party.
I would also like to note that I am yet to receive an apology from Mr Seselja for directly misrepresenting in the adjournment debate a number of weeks ago the position the Greens took in admin and procedure—
Opposition members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Order!
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