Page 2453 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 31 July 2019
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Wednesday, 31 Jul 2019
MADAM SPEAKER (Ms J Burch) took the chair at 10 am, made a formal recognition that the Assembly was meeting on the lands of the traditional custodians, and asked members to stand in silence and pray or reflect on their responsibilities to the people of the Australian Capital Territory.
Suspension of standing orders
Statement by Speaker
MADAM SPEAKER: Members, before I call the first item of private members’ business, I want to reflect and make some comments on yesterday. Yesterday Mr Wall moved:
That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent order of the day No 6, Private Members’ business, relating to development application assessments, being called on forthwith.
The motion was agreed to and then, when the order of the day was read out, the Assembly adjourned the matter until the next day of sitting. Members will recall that order of the day No 6 had been the subject of a resolution of the Assembly on 3 April which specified that the order of the day could not be brought on until after the day of tabling of the report on the development application processes by the Standing Committee on Planning and Urban Renewal.
Standing order 137 requires that a resolution agreed to by the Assembly may be rescinded, provided that three days notice is given, unless that rescinding process relates to correcting mistakes or things that are irregular in the resolution. The Assembly has done two things. It has adjourned a matter and set conditions on when that matter may be dealt with, and then yesterday it suspended standing orders to call that matter on but without rescinding the earlier resolution that was agreed on 3 April this year.
In deciding how to interpret what the Assembly has done, the Clerk has informed me that, notwithstanding that there was no rescinding of the resolution, he has moved the order of the day in question back to the list of private members’ orders of the day so that the matter can be ordered to come on through the routine admin and procedure processes. Can I remind members that the Clerk and his officers are available to provide procedural advice when a member is proposing to do something that is not standard practice, and I would encourage MLAs to utilise that advice.
Mr Wall: Madam Speaker, just on that statement, if the motion has been moved previously, as it was in April, would that now run afoul of the same question rule if it is listed as a motion that is newly submitted?
MADAM SPEAKER: It is my understanding that we should have rescinded the resolution earlier, and to do that there should have been three days notice. But there was the intent from yesterday’s proceedings that the standing orders be suspended to
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