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House of Representatives                                Ch 9                                                 p 290

Contingent notice

Contingent notices are notices conditional upon an event occurring in the House which in fact may not eventuate. The practice of using contingent notices has operated from the very beginnings of the House, a contingent notice appearing on the first Notice Paper issued. ¹

In practice, the significance of the procedure is that a motion to suspend standing orders moved pursuant to a contingent notice only needs to be passed by a simple majority, whereas the same motion, if moved without notice, would require an absolute majority.

Four contingent notices, each for the purpose of facilitating the progress of legislation, are normally given in the first week of each session:

Contingent on any bill being brought in and read a first time : Minister to move—That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the second reading being made an order of the day for a later hour. ²

This contingent notice covers the situation following the introduction of a bill where the standing orders provide that a future day shall be fixed for the second reading to be moved. The contingent notice enables a motion to be moved to by-pass the standing order and make the second reading an order of the day for a later hour the same day.

Contingent on any report relating to a bill being received from the Main Committee : Minister to move—That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the remaining stages being passed without delay. ³

This contingent notice covers the situation where a bill is reported from the Main Committee with amendments or unresolved questions and copies of the amendments or unresolved questions are not available for circulation to Members. In such circumstance the standing orders provide that a future time shall be appointed to take the report into consideration.

Contingent on any bill being agreed to at the conclusion of the consideration in detail stage : Minister to move—That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the motion for the third reading being moved without delay. ⁴

This contingent notice is intended to overcome the situation where leave is not granted to move a motion for the third reading to be moved immediately (the usual practice, even though the standing orders provide for a future day).

Contingent on any message being received from the Senate transmitting any bill for concurrence : Minister to move—That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the bill being passed through all its stages without delay. ⁵

This contingent notice facilitates the speedy passage of a Senate bill without any of the normal delays between stages provided by the standing orders.

Any Minister or Parliamentary Secretary and the Chief Government Whip may move a motion pursuant to a contingent notice; it is not necessary for the motion to be moved by the Minister who lodged the notice.

Contingent notices of motion are not now mentioned in the standing orders of the House, nor do they form part of House of Commons practice. While the contingent notices mentioned above, or equivalents, have been lodged as a matter of course for a considerable time, and whilst there is probably a recognition among Members that Governments are entitled to give such notices, in practice they are rarely used.

Because the device of a contingent notice may cut across or defeat the normal operation of certain standing orders, which generally have been framed for sound reasons and which provide safeguards against hasty or ill-considered action, any extension of its use is questionable. ⁶

NP 1 (21.5.01) 1.

VP 1985-87/1071.

VP 1985-87/1547 (report from committee of whole).

VP 1996-98/89; 836; VP 1998-2001/1033; VP 1998-2001/2678 (in this case the bill had not been considered in detail).

VP 1993-95/92.

For examples of other contingent notices relating to specific occasions or items of business see NP 145 (8.12.71) 11529; 

NP 180 (15.8.72) 14646; NP 45 (5.12.74) 4942, VP 1974-75/422.