Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Leader of the House and Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) (09:18): We have established before this parliament, as part of the parliamentary reform, a number of processes for dealing with private members' business motions so that both motions and bills can be voted upon before this House. We have a process whereby we have a Selection Committee in which you, Mr Speaker, play an important role and in which crossbenchers, members of the government and members of the opposition are represented in a way in which the government does not have a majority. What that Selection Committee does is to provide an opportunity in private members' business greater than ever before for members to have a discussion on issues of concern to their electorates or of concern to the nation and then have votes on them in the House of Representatives. This is a change of practice from what has occurred in the previous 42 parliaments. It has led to a situation whereby, by agreement, we have on Thursdays, in an orderly way, a suspension of standing orders moved by me as Leader of the House and then votes occurring. Those votes occur regardless of what the outcome of the votes will be in terms of the government and the opposition. They are a way in which we have facilitated the engagement in a much greater way, particularly by backbenchers, in the operation of this House. They have enabled us to have some important determinations on specific issues of concern to the electorate or broader issues such as the motion today that has been agreed would be voted upon about wild dogs that was moved by the member for Gippsland. The very moving of this amendment to my suspension motion, and this amendment being carried, undermines the very integrity of that process. I say to the opposition, and in particular to the Manager of Opposition Business, that the moving of this motion changes the way in which I will operate as the Leader of the House, because this has been done by consensus as part of the reform of the parliament. But, once again, we are seeing that there is no convention and no principle in the operation of this parliament that the opposition are not prepared to undermine and to trash. It is particularly important that we uphold the principles embodied in the parliamentary reform document, which everyone signed up to in the operation of the new House. Mr Pyne interjecting— Mr ALBANESE: I say to the Manager of Opposition Business, who interjects: what about the way the opposition cut off question time with their relentless moving of suspensions of standing orders? Once again they refuse to engage in proper processes. The Manager of Opposition Business said, somewhat disorderly but he said it nonetheless, that his amendment to my motion should be allowed because this is somehow a distraction for the government from government business. Yet what we see from the opposition, with their relentless negativity, with their refusal and failure to ask a single question yesterday about any policy issue, with their moving of this amendment— Mr Pyne: Mr Speaker, on a point of order: I hesitate to play the petty game playing of the Leader of the House but, as I was constantly being called to order by him and by you, quite properly as the Speaker, I fail to see how yesterday's question time could possibly be relevant to the motion that my amendment be agreed to. The SPEAKER: The Leader of the House knows that he has to argue a case to do with the suspension, and I am sure he is aware of that. Mr ALBANESE: I am indeed, Mr Speaker. I am also addressing the amendment moved by the Manager of Opposition Business and the arguments that the Manager of Opposition Business put in moving that amendment. The Manager of Opposition Business purports to argue that he is concerned that the government is unable to get on with government business, yet he is moving a suspension of standing orders which would do precisely that. The fact is that just prior to this motion I moved yet another piece of legislation. I expect it will join the 183 pieces of legislation that are being carried by this House on the government agenda. I understand the frustration of the opposition with its failure to defeat a single piece of legislation that has been put before the parliament. Last night, of course, the opposition opposed the tobacco legislation after saying that they were going to support it. So relentlessly negative are they that, even when they come out and make statements saying that they are supporting reform, they cannot bring themselves to actually vote for a piece of government legislation. I say to the opposition: this is an ill-considered amendment. This amendment will completely undermine, and its moving has already undermined, the processes that have been determined and that have been operating effectively and providing opportunities for each and every member of the House, but particularly members of the crossbenches. The motion that I have moved will facilitate voting on a motion moved by a member of the opposition. I move that motion to facilitate the activity of the opposition. If it is the case that the opposition wishes those processes to not occur and for me, as Leader of the House, to not facilitate votes by members of the opposition, then I can say they have gone a major step down that track in moving this amendment. I ask them to reconsider their position. The problem with this opposition is that it looks only for the immediate; there is never a plan for tomorrow, next week, next month or next year. This suspension motion will not be carried because the Manager of Opposition Business knows it is a very short-term view that he brings to this. Another member would like to participate in this debate. I say we should reject the amendment if we wish to retain the integrity of the way these processes work, which has been by consensus, which has been through the Selection Committee, which has been through proper processes. I say to the opposition, and particularly to the crossbenches: it is a fact that if this amendment is carried it will completely undermine the selection process. Mrs Bronwyn Bishop: Mr Speaker, on a point of order: I do not see how making a plea to the crossbenches can possibly be relevant to the motion that is before the chair, and I ask you to call him back. The SPEAKER: The member for Mackellar will resume her seat. The Leader of the House has the call. Mr ALBANESE: What is relevant is that we have been cooperative with regard to the facilitation of votes on private members' motions and also on bills. The cooperation of the government is required in order to allow votes to occur in private members' business. It is something that has not happened in the past; it is something that did not happen under the Howard government for 12 years. We have a very clear process, which is that members put motions on the Notice Paper and they then go to the Selection Committee—there is a proper process here. If the member for Sturt wishes his private member's motion to be determined, then the appropriate thing is for it to go to the Selection Committee. That is the process that we all have agreed on. That is the process that has been applied without fear or favour. That is the process in which I have facilitated votes on private members' motions, whether the government was in a majority or not. But this situation will stop it occurring. It will stop the proper process; it will undermine the Selection Committee. It will mean that whether there are to be votes on private members' business will no longer be determined by the Selection Committee but be determined in a partisan way. I say to the Manager of Opposition Business that I, as Leader of the House, have a fair bit of say over whether that occurs or not. This is ill considered and it should be rejected. (Time expired)