PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Mr HANNA (Mitchell) (11:02): I move:

That standing and sessional orders be and remain so far suspended so as to enable all Private Members' Business—Committees and Subordinate Legislation: Orders of the Day listed for today to be taken into consideration and the question put, without any further debate, forthwith.

The strange system we have of allocating an hour on Wednesday and 2½ hours on Thursday for private members' business, that is, non-government business, has some limitations, one of which is that there are numerous committee reports that have not been dealt with. In fact, today's Notice Paper has 31 items to be dealt with today. Yesterday, there was an indication from the Attorney-General that the parliament would be prorogued. If that is the case, debate on all of those 31 items is cut short—in fact, terminated. A good many of those committee reports are from the Public Works Committee or other committees where the government has a majority. There is no risk to the government in completing the debate on those items; indeed, there are some non-government members who also have motions there. The problem is that those items will simply disappear if the parliament is prorogued. I think that they deserve the consideration of the parliament at least to the extent of being voted upon even if we do not have a full debate.

Mr KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (11:04): The government opposes the member for Mitchell's motion. There are critical reports on matters that the parliament has asked its committees to inquire into, which need to be debated.

Mr Hanna: They need to be voted on.

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: They need to be voted on today. If we support the member's motion, we cannot debate them.

Mr Hanna: We can vote on them.

Mr KOUTSANTONIS: We can vote on them but not debate them. The role of this house is to debate and vote. I think it is important that we allow the committees, which the parliament has asked to do that work, to expect these matters to be debated and for all members to have a say. I think that, while the member's use of the guillotine is interesting in relation to the committees of this parliament (and I can see the father of the house sitting opposite), their role is one of the most important roles of this parliament, and we need to make sure that those committees are in no way stymied or taken for granted.

I think that guillotining (which is the effect of the member's motion) and stopping debate on these matters would, in fact, be a poor reflection on the house. I urge members to oppose the motion.

The SPEAKER: The question is that Notice of Motion No. 1, standing in the name of the member for Mitchell, be agreed to—declared negatived.

Mr HANNA: Divide!

While the division was being held:

The SPEAKER: There being only one member voting for the ayes, the motion is defeated.

Motion negatived.