Sittings and Business

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (12:11): I move:

That for the remainder of the session, sessional orders be adopted so as to provide that, at the conclusion of the period for questions without notice, the Speaker may propose the question 'That the house note grievances'. Up to eight members, two of which must not be from the group led by the Leader of the Opposition or the group led by the Leader of the Government, may speak for a maximum of five minutes each before the Speaker puts the question. The Speaker may exercise discretion in determining when each period of five minutes has elapsed, but not so as to reduce the speaking time for any member to less than five minutes, and that discretion is not open to debate or dissent.

Again, this is an issue the crossbench brought to the attention of yourself, sir, and former Speaker Tarzia at the beginning of this session. This is an attempt by the crossbench not to impinge on either side of the house's time to speak but to allow us also to have time to speak on behalf of our constituents.

As I am sure you have noticed, sir, the crossbench is growing—I am not sure exactly why—and it is going to be important that each of us has an opportunity to represent our electorates fearlessly and fairly and have equal time to other members who are involved in political parties.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (12:14): Again, unsurprisingly, the government does not support this proposal.

The Hon. L.W.K. Bignell: You should just get like Speirsy and capitulate.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Energy and Mining has the call.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: We have some standards, we have some operations, we have some standing orders, we have ways of doing things in this chamber that have worked for a very long time. I am not aware of there being a great difficulty for members of the crossbench to access the opportunity to participate in grievance debates. I have heard many good contributions in grievance time from members of the crossbench and I—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —strongly support the right of every member here to represent his or her electorate in many different ways, including during grievance debates. However, the government believes that six grievance debates per sitting day is sufficient for all of us to have that opportunity, including Independent members, and that eight is not necessary and, by definition, could only slow down other work of the house, so the government does not support the proposal.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (12:15): It seems that it is getting hard for some people in the house to realise the new reality that has dawned this morning about how the house operates. It is common amongst Westminster parliaments across the globe that there are parliaments with multichambers within the same house to allow private members to make contributions. Indeed, we have the Federation Chamber in the commonwealth. I understand that the House of Commons has adjoining rooms where there can be sittings of the house. This is a natural evolution of the house to allow more members to have a say about their local communities.

The government does not have a majority anymore. It is not a majority government. It is a minority government. It does not command the majority of the house, and the house has now willed that the crossbench will have more of a say in the parliament about how and when they speak. The government can object to it. This is not somehow usurping the government's administrative rights. The parliament is just expressing its will as the numbers constitute it now. The Attorney-General no longer enjoys a majority in the house, neither does the Manager of Government Business. No member in this house enjoys a majority.

The Hon. V.A. Chapman: No-one ever has.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, unfortunately—

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: —the Attorney-General is incorrect. When former Premier Jay Weatherill tendered his—

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for West Torrens will not respond to interjections and the Deputy Premier will cease interjecting.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: She is being helpful, as usual, sir.

The Hon. V.A. Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for West Torrens has the call.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, the government did enjoy a majority in the house and has slowly, over three years, lost it. That is—

Mr Odenwalder: Careless.

The Hon. A. KOUTSANTONIS: Yes, to lose one could be considered careless. Regardless of all that, the house is entitled to give the people who control the balance between the opposition and the government more of a say, and it is being reflective. I also point out to the house that the committee structure should also reflect the house, as the other place does. The committee structure does not reflect the house. However, early steps, early days.

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (12:17): Sir, this again is not a reflection on either you or former Speaker Tarzia or the whips of either parties, but it is actually demeaning to have to go and beg for a grievance at the beginning of every week. Although the member for Hammond was extremely helpful, as has my colleague on this side been extremely helpful, it is not something that I or any of the other crossbench seek to do on a daily basis. As we have grown in this corner of the house, as it were, we feel it only fair the house reflects the current composition of the membership. I seek everyone's support on this motion.

Motion carried.