Mr SHORTEN (Maribyrnong—Leader of the Opposition) (14:09): I thank the honourable member for her question. The private member's bill on the Notice Paper in my name deals with the restoration of Sunday and public holiday penalty rates, and it is urgent. As the House knows, the bill will not progress unless the government schedules debate and a vote during government business. In light of today's poor wages data, it is more urgent than ever— The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. The Leader of the House on a point of order. Mr Pyne: You've already made it clear to the Leader of the Opposition that the answer he can give needs to be limited to the progress of the legislation in terms of the number of hearings that might be scheduled into the legislation, the number of submissions that might have been received by the committee that might be investigating the bill. It cannot go to the substance of the bill and it can't go to the subject matter of the bill in any respect. It can only go to the technical aspects of dealing with the bill. Honourable members interjecting— The SPEAKER: Members on both sides will cease interjecting. If anyone interjects while I'm ruling on this point of order they'll find they're watching the rest of the answer from the Leader of the Opposition from their office. I outlined the issue of timing and procedure at the start of the question. I'm not going to detain the House with all of the precedents—that is, the answers that are being given, that go back to second airports and all the rest of it—but I can assure you I'm familiar with them. Everything the Leader of the House said about what could be in the Leader of the Opposition's answer is correct. But so far he's completely in order, and I'm listening very closely. The Leader of the Opposition has the call. Mr SHORTEN: Thank you. It is most urgent that we debate the restoration of public holiday and Sunday penalty rates, because today's disappointing wages data highlights the need for this matter to be progressed during government business and scheduled for a vote. The data today reveals that private sector wages growth is below inflation. It is urgent. Everything in this country is going up above wages. The SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. The Leader of the House on a point of order. Ms Burney interjecting— The SPEAKER: The member for Barton is warned. She needs to realise she's in a seat where I hear her far more clearly—the member for Jagajaga's old seat. The Leader of the House on a point of order. Mr Pyne: Mr Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition is going to the question of why he wants his bill to be debated in the chamber, which is going to the subject matter of the bill and the subject itself, when he's not able to do that under the standing orders, as you pointed out. He's now talking about why he wants the bill to be on, as though it's a suspension of standing orders debate, where if he just mentions the procedure of the bill he can then talk about the substance. He can't do that. It's a very, very narrow window of what he can actually talk about, and if the precedent is allowed for him to debate the subject— Mr Champion interjecting— The SPEAKER: Leader of the House, just pause for a second. You might have finished, but I didn't hear the last bit, thanks to the member for Wakefield, who will now do as I predicted—he'll leave under 94(a). The member for Wakefield then left the chamber. The SPEAKER: I didn't hear the last 30 seconds. Mr Pyne: I simply make the point that, if the Leader of the Opposition is allowed to debate the substance and the subject matter, it sets a new precedent, when you very clearly stated it's a very limited opportunity to answer such a question if you're not a member of the frontbench of the government, and I think that is a dangerous precedent for us to establish. The SPEAKER: I'll hear from the Manager of Opposition Business. Mr Burke: Thanks, Mr Speaker. I followed your advice and had a look at page 550 of Practice, which goes quite specifically to whether or not there is urgency in a matter, and urgency is the only issue that the Leader of the Opposition has been dealing with and has been giving the reasons why it is urgent. The SPEAKER: I obviously stand by my ruling on the Leader of the House's first point of order. The Leader of the Opposition shouldn't be debating the matter. He should be talking about urgency. Obviously, in doing that, I say to the Leader of the House that he's entitled to talk about the subject of the bill. It's a little difficult to answer the question without saying what the bill's about. But, on your second point of order that I'm ruling on now, the Leader of the Opposition I think is getting close now to debating the matter, which he shouldn't be doing. He needs to confine himself to urgency, timing, procedure. The Leader of the Opposition has the call. Mr SHORTEN: It is urgent to deal with our proposal to restore Sunday and public holiday penalty rates because the workers of this country are going backwards under the Turnbull government and they need a wage rise.