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Title

Ch14 Control and conduct of debate / CURTAILMENT OF SPEECHES AND DEBATE / Curtailment of speeches / Closure of Member

Database

House Practice

Date

01-05-2005

Source

House of Reps

Parl No.

41

Chapter

Control and conduct of debate

Chapter No.

Chapter 14

Page

514

Section No.

 

System Id

procedural/practcer/chapter14.46.doc


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Ch14 Control and conduct of debate / CURTAILMENT OF SPEECHES AND DEBATE / Curtailment of speeches / Closure of Member



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House of Representatives                                Ch 14                                                 p 514

 

Control and conduct of debate / CURTAILMENT OF SPEECHES AND DEBATE / Curtailment of speeches

 

Closure of Member

With the exceptions stated below, any Member may move at any time that a Member who is speaking ‘be no longer heard’ and the question must be put immediately and resolved without amendment or debate. 1 The standing order was introduced at a time when there were no time limits on speeches and, in moving for its adoption, Prime Minister Deakin said:

The . . . new standing order need rarely, if ever, be used for party purposes, and never, I trust, will its application be dictated by partisan motives. 2

The motion cannot be moved when a Member is giving a notice of motion or moving the terms of a motion, 3 or if, when the same question has been negatived, the Chair is of the opinion that the further motion is an abuse of the orders or forms of the House, or is moved for the purpose of obstructing business. 4

The motion is not necessarily accepted by the Chair when a Member is speaking with the Chair’s indulgence; or when a Member is taking or speaking to a point of order or making a personal explanation, as these matters are within the control of the Chair. In respect of a point of order the matter awaits the Chair’s adjudication, and in respect of a personal explanation the Member is speaking with the permission of the Chair under standing order 68. Thus, in both cases the discretion of the Chair may be exercised. 5 The Speaker has declined to accept the motion while a Member who had moved a motion of dissent from the Chair’s ruling was speaking, as he desired to hear the basis of the motion of dissent. 6 The Chair is not bound to put the question on the motion if the Member speaking resumes his or her seat having completed the speech, the question having been effectively resolved by that action. 7 A closure of Member motion may be withdrawn, by leave. 8 The motion has been moved in respect of a Member making a statement by leave. 9

When the motion has been agreed to, the closured Member has again spoken, by leave. 10 The standing order has been interpreted as applying to the speech currently in progress—a closured Member has not been prevented from speaking again on the same question where the standing orders allow this (for example, during the detail stage of a bill). 11

Notice has been given of a motion to suspend the operation of the standing order for a period except when the motion was moved by a Minister. 12



S.O. 80. The standing order was first adopted in 1905, VP 1905/181-3.



H.R. Deb. (24.11.05) 5762.



This provision was included in 1963 following the recommendation of the Standing Orders Committee, H of R 1 (1962-63) 25; VP 1962-63/201, 455.



S.O. 78; H.R. Deb. (19.10.77) 2171. And see H.R. Deb. (26.8.2002) 5654-6 (motion disallowed under the ‘same motion’ rule).



Private ruling by Speaker Snedden (17.2.78).



VP 1978-80/572; but see VP 2002-04/969-70.



VP 1929-31/484, 492; VP 1970-72/1060-1.



VP 1998-2001/1311.



VP 2002-04/1102.



H.R. Deb. (4.12.47) 3213-14, 3264.



H.R. Deb. (29.10.96) 6013-4.



E.g. NP (7.12.2000) 8998; NP (19.6.2003) 3846.