Parliament House Matters

Parliament House Safety Measures

The SPEAKER (11:01): Honourable members, before I call Mr Clerk, I can advise the house that I am informed that with agreement between the Leader of Government Business and the opposition there may be allowance for all members to be in attendance in the chamber during the COVID-19 pandemic, so I have authorised the use of the Speaker's gallery for the seating of members. I believe the Leader of Government Business will shortly move a motion to so far suspend standing orders to allow this to occur. As a result, the Speaker's gallery will only be accessible to members. Members of the Legislative Council, members' staff and others will, therefore, need to use the public gallery on the mezzanine level until further notice if they wish to observe proceedings of the house.

However, there are some matters that I will raise concerning members being recognised by the Chair and being heard while in the Speaker's gallery. Firstly, members who wish to be recognised by the Chair should stand as normal in their place in the Speaker's gallery. Rest assured, members who wish to be recognised will be. Secondly, the Speaker's gallery is not provided with microphones. Members, once acknowledged by the Chair, who wish to speak to a matter or raise a matter of privilege or point of order will need to come down to an unoccupied seat on the floor of the chamber so that their remarks can be heard and recorded by Hansard.

As has always been the case, interjections are out of order. Every member has a right to be heard and I do ask for the cooperation of all members to make this possible. I thank members for their understanding.