Personal Explanation

VOLUNTARY EUTHANASIA BILL

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite) (15:24): I seek leave to make a personal explanation.

Leave granted.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: I would like to indicate that, when there was a vote earlier today on the euthanasia bill, I was in my office engaged in a media interview on FIVEaa and had sought a leave of absence. Had I been present for the vote I would have voted against the measure.

The SPEAKER: Can I point out to members that personal explanations are just that, they are not an opportunity to make a statement. I do not want everybody in the house who was not here for the vote to get up and talk about why they did not make a statement. I will accept it at this stage, but a personal explanation is not an opportunity to make a statement, it is to explain something that has been said. I was going to say that before you got up and spoke, Mr Hamilton-Smith. There was a previous explanation that was similar.

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH: Could I seek clarification on that, Madam Speaker? I am seeking further elaboration of your logic in that regard, because I think in such a circumstance a member does find himself or herself in a position where they need to explain why they may have been misrepresented through not being here. While I note your guidance, I wonder if in that instance it would fall within the ambit of a personal explanation? How else would a member seek to clarify the position, other than to have to wait until a moment occurred for a grievance debate or some similar event, which might be some days after? Could you clarify that for me?

The SPEAKER: It is not the practice of the house that every time we have a conscience vote people get up and explain why they were not here or why they voted in a particular way. I think that would be a dangerous practice to allow. I understand you have a grievance coming up, so you probably could have prefaced it with that. I do not particularly want to single you out because it has also been done by the Minister for Employment, Higher Education and Skills. I ask members in the future to be very careful with their personal explanations and keep them as personal explanations.