MOTIONS › President of the United States of America
Senator DI NATALE (Victoria—Leader of the Australian Greens) (15:59): I ask that general business notice of motion No. 902, standing in my name for today, relating to the President of the US, be taken as a formal motion. The PRESIDENT: Order! Senator Bernardi, you're seeking the call? Senator Bernardi: Mr President, I take a point of order. Under standing order 193, regardless of the timing of the tabling of the motion and the vote yesterday, this motion now constitutes a reflection on the vote of the Senate. As such, I'd ask whether it is actually in order. The PRESIDENT: I'm going to pull out my standing orders for a minute. What standing order did you refer to, Senator Bernardi? Senator Bernardi: Just off the top of my head, it is 193, I think, Mr President. The PRESIDENT: From a quick read of this, Senator Bernardi, I'm not certain that this constitutes a reflection in the terms of the standing orders. Senator Di Natale, you sought leave for the motion to be taken as formal. Is there any objection to this motion being taken as formal? There being none, I call Senator Di Natale. Senator DI NATALE: I move: That the Senate— (a) notes that: (i) the US President has expressed interest in visiting Australia in November, (ii) some have called upon the Government and Presiding Officers to extend an invitation to President Trump to address a joint meeting of the Australian Parliament, and (iii) the Speaker of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom, Rt Hon John Bercow MP, commented in relation to Mr Trump's postponed visit to the UK that "an address to both Houses of Parliament is not an automatic right, it is an earned honour… my view is that he has not earned that honour"; (b) believes that an invitation to President Trump to visit Australia, and to address a joint meeting of Parliament, would represent the normalisation of racism, bigotry and misogyny; and (c) calls on the Government to rule out: (i) extending an official invitation to President Trump to visit Australia, and (ii) conferring him the honour of an address to a joint meeting of Parliament. The PRESIDENT: The question is that motion No. 902 be agreed to.