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House of Representatives                                Ch 9                                                 p 301

Question put and result determined

Once debate upon a question has been concluded—by no Member rising to speak, the mover of the original question having spoken in reply, the House agreeing to the motion ‘That the question be now put’, or the time allotted under guillotine or the standing orders having expired—the Chair must put the question to the House for decision. ¹ The question is resolved in the affirmative or negative, by the majority of voices, ‘Aye’ or ‘No’. The Speaker then states whether the ‘Ayes’ or the ‘Noes’ have it and, if the Speaker’s opinion is challenged, the question must be decided by division of the House. ² Decisions in the Main Committee can only be decided on the voices—if any Member dissents from the result announced by the Chair, the question is recorded in the minutes as unresolved and reported back to the House for decision there ( see below ).

Apart from the occasions when a motion has been withdrawn, there have been other occasions when the Chair has not put the question. In 1908, a motion having been amended by the omission of words and two proposed insertions having been negatived, the Speaker called attention to the fact that what was left of the motion was worthless and presumed the House would not desire him to put the question. The House agreed with this assessment. ³

S.O. 117(c).

S.O. 125. For a full discussion of division procedures see Ch. on ‘Order of business and the sitting day’.

VP 1908/53-4.