Mr PYNE (Sturt—Manager of Opposition Business) (09:07): I move as an amendment: That the following words be added to the motion: "and (2) that private Members' business notice No. 4 given for Thursday 25 August 2011, standing in the name of the Member for Sturt, be considered immediately." Mr Speaker, this motion will allow the member for Dobell to come into the House to make a statement to the parliament. Mr Albanese: Mr Speaker, on a point of order: an amendment must relate to the motion that was moved. It is quite clear that this motion that has been moved is specifically about matters that have been considered by the Selection Committee and determined to be voted upon. There is a process before the House if the member for Sturt wishes this to be voted upon, but it is not in order to move any amendment whatsoever to any process that is moved before the House. Mr PYNE: Mr Speaker, on the point of order: I simply point out that this is a suspension of standing orders motion moved by the Leader of the House. It contains one item. There is absolutely no reason at all why it cannot contain a second item. The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. The motion is a suspension of standing and sessional orders and in the past there have been amendments of the ilk of the amendment of the Manager of Opposition Business that have been allowed. I call the Manager of Opposition Business. Mr PYNE: Thank you, Mr Speaker. This amendment allows the government to finally make sure that the member for Dobell comes into the House and makes a statement to the parliament surrounding the issues which have been dogging and paralysing this government for far too long. If I were any Labor Party member of the House of Representatives, I would be demanding that my colleague the member for Dobell come into the parliament and make a statement and clear the air so the government can move on. This issue has been paralysing the government all week, and for longer in the public eye. All week in the parliament the opposition has tried to give the member for Dobell an opportunity to make a personal explanation and he has refused to do so. If I were a member of the Labor Party caucus I would be wondering: 'Why are we allowing this guy to drag us down? Why are we allowing the member for Dobell to stop the government from getting on with the business of being interested in jobs, being interested in how to resolve this carbon tax dilemma and being interested in how to protect our borders?' Today in the Australian Financial Review Geoff Kitney writes: One Labor elder says, "It's as ugly out in the electorate as it can get. The depth of anger and hostility is reminiscent of the worst times in 1975 and in 1996. It's absolutely dire." He goes on to say— The SPEAKER: Order! I remind the Manager of Opposition Business that this is a suspension of standing and sessional orders. His contribution should relate to that motion. Mr PYNE: Thank you, Mr Speaker. The reason standing orders should be suspended and the member for Dobell should be required to make a statement to the House is that the member for Dobell's failure to make a personal explanation about claims that he says are misrepresentations is paralysing the government and is now perilously close to paralysing the country. Mr Albanese: Mr Speaker, on a point of order: the Manager of Opposition Business is indeed defying your ruling. I know that he is obsessed by this issue but he must address the question about why standing orders should be suspended. The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business will go to this suspension of standing and sessional orders and his contribution will be based on this motion. I call the member for Sturt. Mr PYNE: I hear you, Mr Speaker. The reason it is so important that standing orders be suspended and that this amendment be carried to form part of the suspension of standing orders is the country is unable to get on with the necessary business of protecting our borders, of resolving the carbon tax disagreements that the House has, of ensuring that people's cost of living is not going through the roof, which it is at the moment, and of trying to keep down interest rates and addressing inflation. All of these issues are on hold while the government is paralysed by the issues surrounding the member for Dobell. My point was that, if I were a Labor member of parliament, I would want him to come into the House because, as one senior caucus member said in the Australian Financial Review today: This is the last thing Julia needed … It gives Abbott another way to highlight the integrity issue which is the albatross around Julia's neck … Mr Albanese: Mr Speaker, on a point of order— Mr PYNE: This is just obfuscation, Mr Speaker. The SPEAKER: I call the Leader of the House, on a point of order. Mr Albanese: Mr Speaker, this is an outrageous abuse of standing orders. He must address why standing orders should be suspended in order to do that. It cannot be relevant to the motion before the House for him to read into Hansard copies of the Australian Financial Review. The SPEAKER: The Leader of the House will resume his seat. The contribution of the Manager of Opposition Business must go to the reasons for the suspension of standing and sessional orders. The member for Sturt has the call. Mr PYNE: Yes, Mr Speaker, and the amendment that I have moved is for the suspension of standing orders motion to include my motion—and I will read it to the House because it obviously goes very much to the reason why the suspension and the amendment should be carried—which is: That this House requests the presence of the Member for Dobell to make a statement with respect to all the matters pertaining to his time as National Secretary of the Health Services Union and canvassed in the press, including but not limited to, his receipt of a gift from the NSW branch of the Australian Labor Party that remained undeclared on his Register of Members Interests for 77 days after the time had elapsed that such a declaration should be made. The capacity to make a personal explanation in this House is a unique one for members of parliament, under privilege, to make a claim that they have been misrepresented and then personally explain that misrepresentation to the House. That is exactly what the member for Dobell will be given the opportunity to do if this amendment is carried. He can put his side— Mr Albanese: Mr Speaker, on a point of order: the Manager of Opposition Business continues not to speak to the issue of the suspension of standing orders but to address the substance of the motion that he would move without addressing why this is a complete breach of the processes of the Selection Committee and the agreements that we have about the functioning of this parliament. The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business is aware that he must contain his remarks to the suspension motion and not enter into a debate that would be allowed if the suspension was successful. Mr PYNE: The reason all other business of the House should be suspended and nothing else should proceed until this matter is dealt with is what I am speaking to. A suspension of standing orders is essentially saying to the House that no other matter is as important as the matter for which we seek to suspend standing orders. Quite frankly, in this parliament today, until the member for Dobell makes a statement to the House the government is paralysed, distracted and incapable of getting on with the business of governing. The member for Dobell has made the most calamitous defamation action since Oscar Wilde sued the Marquess of Queensberry. The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Sturt must return to the suspension. Mr PYNE: And it is behoven on him to come into the House and explain to the parliament why it is that the rest of the parliament and the government— The SPEAKER: The member for Sturt is now debating the motion that he is seeking the suspension about. Mr PYNE: Standing orders should be suspended and the opportunity provided to the member for Dobell to come into the House and explain why it is— The SPEAKER: That is not the intent of the suspension. The suspension is for you to move a motion, so you must debate that. Mr PYNE: What I am saying, and I have said it repeatedly, is that no other item of business on the Notice Paper today can be proceeded with until the government lances the boil of the member for Dobell and allows him to give an explanation to the House. Mr Dreyfus: Mr Speaker, on a point of order: the Manager of Opposition Business has clearly run out of things to say. He should stick to the purpose. The SPEAKER: There is no point of order. The member's time has expired. Is the amendment seconded? Mr Keenan: I second the amendment, Mr Speaker, and reserve my right to speak. The SPEAKER: The original question was that the motion be agreed to. To this the member for Sturt has moved as an amendment that certain words be added to the motion. If it suits the House, I will state the question in the form that the amendment be agreed to. There being no objection I will put the motion in that form. The question before the House is that the amendment be agreed to.