Mr JENKINS (Scullin) (09:17): Madam Speaker, I think that sometimes things are said in here that are just for party political advantage and that those who say them might, on reflection, regret having done so. I say to the Manager of Opposition Business, with the greatest amount of kindness I can muster: if he really has some great respect for the institution, he would understand that the standing order we are actually talking about this morning is a relic of 'fair play' by the then Labor government when the position of Second Deputy Speaker was first created. And, just to remind him—because he started to get into the internecine dealings of, especially, the New South Wales Labor Party—the main instigator of these proposals was one Leo McLeay. And Leo, in fairness to him, knew that there was a problem if there was a single vacancy for the Second Deputy Speaker—because the intention, always, was that the Second Deputy Speaker would be an opposition member under a majority government. The difficulty we had was that, when that position was first elected, of course it was a single vacancy. So, elegantly, the standing order was put in place that, in a single vacancy, an opposition member should get elected. Now, I should know this, because at the time I was the Deputy Speaker. What qualifications did I end up having to be elected Speaker? Well, Madam Speaker Burke, the greatest qualification I had was that I lost four ballots for Deputy Speaker! In a contested ballot, of course, the loser became the Second Deputy Speaker. Again, in majority government that is likely to be a non-government member. I have to say that I was a little worried in 1996 when we had only one-third of the votes because if the coalition had decided to play games then they could have got two candidates up and I would not have been— Mr Pyne: We are too statesmanlike for that, Harry. Mr JENKINS: I thank the member for Sturt for his intervention, because that is all I am asking him to consider: that on this motion he be statesmanlike. Mr Pyne: You can't change the rules halfway through. Mr JENKINS: He is a chatterbox, isn't he? The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business will stop provoking people who are on their feet. Mr JENKINS: I am not sure whether I have to put that in inverted commas, because we are a bit worried about calling people names. I remember, because I had an interest during this 17-day period, and when there was a lovely scene out in one of the courtyards—the great love-in of parliamentary procedure—one of the agreements was the pairing of the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker. I wonder what position I would have in this place if that had been carried through, but I digress a little and it is not about me. There was the intention that we recognise in this minority period that again the two positions of Deputy Speaker be shared, and that is all that is happening here. Finally, now the member for Sturt is quiet, reluctant as I am to give tactical advice to those opposite, I simply say that if he had thought a bit about what was actually happening in the parliament last night and not been worried so much about the politics then he might have seen this happening; he might have seen this coming. If he did not see it, that is bad luck. If this motion moved by the Leader of the House gets up we will achieve the appropriate action that was decided not only in the way that the Second Deputy Speaker position was created but most importantly in this period of minority government in the way in which we could best have this parliament and this House operate.