Parliamentary Procedure

Sittings and Business, Speaker's Statement

The SPEAKER (14:00): Earlier today, the member for Kaurna raised a point of order concerning the member for Heysen leaving the chamber during the calling of a quorum. I advised the house that I did not see the member for Heysen leave the chamber but that I would look at the footage, take it up and, if required, come back to the house.

I have had the opportunity to look at the footage this morning and it appears that both the member for Heysen and the member for Florey left the chamber during the ringing of the bills when the call for an absolute majority was in progress. I would like to refer members respectfully to standing order 403, which states:

When it is moved without notice to suspend any Standing or sessional order or orders, the Speaker counts the House and if a majority of all of the Members is not present, the bells are rung for up to three minutes, during which time no Member may leave the Chamber, and if a majority of Members is still not present the motion lapses.

Of course, there is standing order 44, which has a similar provision requiring that 'No member may leave the chamber while the bells are ringing for lack of a quorum'. I do appreciate that there are arrangements in place because of the current social distancing arrangements and consequently leading to pairs, but I wanted to caution members and just issue a gentle reminder for future reference.