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Ch8 Order of business and the sitting day / ORDER OF BUSINESS / Other matters that can interrupt the ordinary order of business / Suspension of standing orders



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House of Representatives                                Ch 8                                                 p 259

 

Order of business and the sitting day / ORDER OF BUSINESS / Other matters that can interrupt the ordinary order of business

 

Suspension of standing orders

It is not unusual in the functioning of the House for it to be found necessary to suspend standing orders, or a particular standing order, to permit certain action to be taken. Common instances are to grant unlimited or extended time for particular speeches, to permit the introduction of particular bills without notice and their passage without delay, the consideration of certain bills together, to enable censure or other motions to be moved, and to enable the introduction of new business after 9.30 p.m. The suspension of standing orders may also affect the ordinary order of business, for example, when it is to enable an item of private Members’ business to be called on in other than the normal order, or to allow a notice of motion to be called on immediately, the notice having been given for the next sitting.

Having received the call from the Chair, a motion to suspend standing orders may be moved by any Member without notice, but to be passed it must be carried by an absolute majority of all Members 1 (76 votes in a House of 150 Members). If the motion is moved pursuant to notice, pursuant to contingent notice, or with the leave of the House, it may be carried by a simple majority of Members present. A motion for the suspension of standing orders may only be moved if the substance of the motion is relevant to the item of business before the House, or, alternatively, when there is no business before the House, that is, between items of business. 2

For further information see ‘Motion to suspend standing or sessional orders’ in Chapter on ‘Motions’.



S.O. 2.



VP 1983-84/543, H.R. Deb. (27.3.84) 803.