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House of Representatives                                Ch 14                                                 p 515

Motion for adjournment of debate

Only a Member who has not spoken to the question or who has the right of reply may move the adjournment of a debate. The question must be put immediately and resolved without amendment or debate. ¹ The motion cannot be moved while another Member is speaking. It can only be moved by a Member who is called by the Speaker in the course of the debate. There is no restriction on the number of times an individual Member may move the motion in the same debate. A motion for the adjournment of the debate on the question ‘That the House do now adjourn’ is not in order.

Unless a Member requests that separate questions be put, the time for the resumption of the debate may be included in the adjournment question, ² and when a Member moves the motion ‘That the debate be now adjourned’ the Chair puts the question in the form ‘That the debate be now adjourned and the resumption of the debate be made an order of the day for . . .’. The time fixed for the resumption of debate is either ‘the next day of sitting’, ‘a later hour this day’, or a specific day. It is only when there is opposition to the adjournment of the debate or to the time for its resumption that the two questions are put separately. When the question to fix a time for the resumption of the debate is put separately, the question is open to amendment and debate. Both debate and any amendment are restricted, by the rule of relevancy, to the question of the time or date when the debate will be resumed. For example, an amendment must be in the form to omit ‘the next sitting’ in order to substitute a specific day. ³

If the motion for the adjournment of debate is agreed to, the mover is entitled to speak first when the debate is resumed ⁴ ( see p. 487 ). If the motion is negatived, the mover may speak at a later time during the debate ⁵ —this provision has been interpreted as allowing the Member to speak immediately after a division on the motion for the adjournment. ⁶ If the motion is negatived, no similar proposal may be received by the Chair if the Chair is of the opinion that it is an abuse of the orders or forms of the House or is moved for the purpose of obstructing business. ⁷

If the Selection Committee has determined that consideration of an item of private Members’ business should continue on a future day, at the time set for interruption of the item of business or if debate concludes earlier, the Speaker interrupts proceedings and the matter is listed on the Notice Paper for the next sitting. ⁸ The Chair will also do this even if the time available has not expired but where there are no other Members wishing to speak. ⁹

Standing order 39 allows a Member who has presented a committee or delegation report (after any statements allowed have been made), to move a specific motion in relation to the report. Debate on the question must then be adjourned until a future day. ¹⁰

In the Main Committee, if no Member is able to move adjournment of debate, the Chair can announce the adjournment when there is no further debate on a matter, or at the time set for the adjournment of the Committee. ¹¹ In the House, if there is no Member available qualified to move the motion—that is, when all Members present have already spoken in the debate—the Chair may also, without the motion being moved, simply declare that the debate has been adjourned and that the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting. ¹²

S.O. 79(a).

S.O. 79(a).

VP 1978-80/1473.

S.O. 79(b).

S.O. 79(c).

H.R. Deb. (4.9.2000) 20047.

S.O. 78(e). When an opposition Member was prevented from moving the adjournment of the debate a second time, the Chair immediately accepted a motion moved by a Minister which the House agreed to, H.R. Deb. (30.6.49) 1892-3.

S.0. 41(b). E.g. VP 1993-95/2080.

VP 1993-95/1972.

VP 1993-95/2107.

S.O. 194.

This practice is not recognised by the standing orders, but is a pragmatic development (supported by a Speaker’s private ruling) which is recorded as occurring by leave. It is likely to occur towards the end of a lengthy debate, such as the Budget debate.