Bill returned from Main Committee without amendment; certified copy presented.

Mr SPEAKER —I understand that it is the wish of the House to consider the bill forthwith.

Mr Crean —What about the MPI?

Mr Leo McLeay —Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. In the routine of business, I would have thought we would have discussed the MPI prior to dealing with legislation.

Mr SPEAKER —The Chief Opposition Whip raises an understandable point of order. That would have also been my understanding. I also gathered from a comment by the Clerk that these were messages that needed to be dealt with. I was a little surprised to find among them some debate and I am happy, in fact, to get an indication from the Clerk as to the urgency of these messages. But I was specifically asked to present them before the discussion of a matter of public importance.

Mr Leo McLeay —If the government were willing to assure us that they were going to allow the MPI, we would be happy to facilitate the business of the House by dealing with these earlier matters first.

Mr SPEAKER —If the Chief Opposition Whip, the member for Watson, cares to resume his seat, I will deal with the matters which are, in fact, a matter of misunderstanding between the Clerk and the Speaker. Among the papers I was handed, which I presumed were messages from the Senate, was the message that I had started to read out. It was at that point that I looked at the Leader of the House, because I was a little mystified as to why that matter was there. If the House concurs, it is entirely right and proper that, simply having been given a number of papers, including messages that were not urgent, we could return to the urgent matters and I could pick up the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Concession Cards) Bill after the MPI.