LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF VICTORIA VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS Nos 92, 93 and 94 No 92 — Wednesday 17 February 2021 1 The House met in accordance with the terms of its resolution on 4 February 2021, the Speaker having fixed today at 12.00 noon as the time of meeting — The Speaker took the Chair, read the Prayer and made an Acknowledgement of Country. 2 SITTING ARRANGEMENTS — Motion made, by leave, and question — That so much of standing and sessional orders be suspended to allow the following arrangements to come into effect immediately and to remain in place until 20 February 2021: A revised order of business (1) The order of business is: Wednesday Questions without notice and ministers’ statements Formal business Government business General business Thursday Formal business Statements by members Statements on parliamentary committee reports Government business Question time — 12.00 noon Government business continued Lunch break and cleaning in the Chamber — 1.00 pm to 2.00 pm Matter of public importance or grievance debate — 2.00 pm Government business continued General business Friday Formal business Statements by members Government business Question time — 12.00 noon Government business continued Lunch break and cleaning in the Chamber — 1.00 pm to 2.00 pm Government business continued 520 Legislative Assembly of Victoria General business. (2) The Chair may order additional breaks to facilitate cleaning in the Chamber. Times of meeting (3) (a) Subject to subparagraph (b), the House will meet on Thursday and Friday at 9.30 am. (b) If, in the opinion of the Speaker, a scheduled sitting should not proceed on the basis of health advice, the Speaker will consult with the Leader of the House and the Manager of Opposition Business and set another day and/or hour to meet. (c) The Speaker will notify members of any changes to the next sitting date or time. (4) The Chair will interrupt business under Sessional Order 2 for the adjournment: (a) on Wednesday at 6.00 pm and there will be no adjournment debate in the Chamber; (b) on Thursday at 7.00 pm; and (c) on Friday at 5.00 pm. Wednesday sitting arrangements (5) The following arrangements will apply for the Wednesday sitting day only: Remote participation (a) Members may participate in debate remotely using an audio link or audio visual link as follows: (i) the Chair must be satisfied that the quality of the audio link or audio visual link allows the Chair to verify the identity of that member and for the member to participate; (ii) a member participating remotely is not counted for the purposes of a quorum and may not vote; (iii) members may only participate remotely to speak on: (A) motions; (B) bills, including consideration in detail; (C) question time — to ask questions only; Votes and Proceedings 17, 18 and 19 February 2021 521 (D) a personal explanation; (iv) members participating remotely may only speak when given the call, must comply with all the usual rules of debate and may not: (A) refuse leave; (B) respond to questions without notice, make ministers’ statements or respond to matters raised in the adjournment debate; (C) call the Chair’s attention to the state of the House; (D) take, or speak on, a point of order unless it is taken by another member during their speech or relates to the answer to a question they have asked; (E) move a motion (except an amendment to a motion or bill when they have the call); (F) interject; (G) chair the debate; (v) members participating remotely may circulate amendments to bills under SO 64; (vi) in order to assist members participating remotely, the Chair will use a formal call list to allocate the call for each debate where practical and members wishing to participate remotely may seek the call by: (A) informing their whip, or the whip’s representative, who will inform the Chair in advance — for a Government or Opposition member; (B) informing the Clerk, who will inform the Chair in advance — for any other member; (vii) when a member participates remotely, the Chair may exercise all their usual powers to control the debate; (viii) the Chair is given any additional powers necessary to facilitate the smooth running of the House and/or to address any technical issues, including but not limited to: (A) stopping the clock; (B) returning to a member’s contribution; (C) reordering business; and 522 Legislative Assembly of Victoria (ix) the Speaker may issue Guidelines about remote participation. Other business to be published in Hansard (b) Members may submit: (i) members’ statements; (ii) constituency questions; and (iii) adjournment matters — for Wednesday by emailing them to the Clerk by the adjournment of the House. (c) The Clerk will accept matters up to the number usually given in the House and as allocated between the parties and independents in accordance with the call lists approved by the Speaker. (d) The House authorises and requires these matters to be published in Hansard at the end of the day’s proceedings: (i) subject to the Hansard editorial policy; and (ii) if any matter contains unbecoming expressions or does not comply with the rules of debate, the Speaker may direct that the matter be removed or amended before it is published. Members to incorporate their speeches for bills and motions (e) If a member is not in attendance on the parliamentary precinct for the sitting day and they wish to incorporate their speech — (i) for any bill on the government business program, they must email their speech to the Clerk by the time set down for consideration of that bill under the government business program; or (ii) for any substantive motion considered by the House that day, they must email their speech to the Clerk by the adjournment of the House. (f) Incorporated speeches will be published in Hansard — (i) for bills, after the relevant second reading speeches made in the House (if any) and before the minister’s reply (if any); (ii) for substantive motions, after the relevant speeches made in the House (if any) and before the mover’s reply (if any). Votes and Proceedings 17, 18 and 19 February 2021 523 (g) If any matter contains unbecoming expressions or does not comply with the rules of debate, the Speaker may direct that the matter be removed or amended before it is published. Reduced number of members in the Chamber to assist with physical distancing (h) Subject to subparagraph (5)(l), the Chamber will be composed of the Chair and no more than 24 other members, being 13 from the Government, seven from the Opposition, one Greens member and three independent members. (i) Except as provided for in subparagraph (5)(l), if more members than those listed in subparagraph (5)(h) vote in a division, the Clerk will not count their vote. Quorum (j) The House gives the Chair further discretion in ringing the bells to form a quorum under SO 29, provided the Chair is confident that a quorum is present within the parliamentary precinct. (k) If, under subparagraph (5)(j) and SO 29(1), the bells are rung to form a quorum, the provisions under subparagraph (5)(h) are suspended until a quorum is formed. (l) If, under SO 29(2), there is found not to be a quorum during a division: (i) the provisions under subparagraph (5)(h) are suspended; (ii) the bells must be rung for a further four minutes; (iii) the Chamber will be composed of the Chair and no more than 40 other members, being 23 from the Government, 13 from the Opposition, one Greens member and three independent members for the remainder of the sitting day; and (iv) if more members than those listed in subparagraph (5)(l)(iii) vote in the division, the Clerk will not count their vote. Register of opinion on division questions (m) If a division has taken place, a member not in attendance for the division can register their opinion on the question: (i) any members wishing to do so must notify the Clerk in writing of their opinion (either ‘aye’ or ‘no’) by no later than one hour after the division has been completed; and (ii) any such opinion will be published, separately from the results of the vote, in Hansard and the Votes and Proceedings. 524 Legislative Assembly of Victoria Thursday and Friday sitting arrangements (6) The following arrangements will be in place for the Thursday and Friday sitting days only: Reduced number of members in the Chamber to assist with physical distancing (a) Subject to subparagraphs (6)(e) and (f), the House will be composed of the Chair and no more than 56 other members, being 34 from the Government, 17 from the Opposition, two Greens members and three independent members. (b) Except as provided for in subparagraphs (6)(e) and (f), if more members than those listed in subparagraph (6)(a) vote in a division, the Clerk will not count their vote. Quorum (c) The House gives the Chair further discretion in ringing the bells to form a quorum under SO 29, provided the Chair is confident that a quorum is present within the parliamentary precinct. (d) If, under subparagraph (6)(c) and SO 29(1), the bells are rung to form a quorum, the provisions under subparagraph (6)(a) are suspended until a quorum is formed. Divisions (e) For questions relating to the passage of bills on the government business program, the provisions of subparagraph (6)(a) are suspended and divisions will take place as follows: (i) the Chair will direct that the lower and upper public galleries be cleared; (ii) the lower and upper public galleries are included as part of the Legislative Assembly Chamber until the conclusion of the consideration of all items on the government business program; (iii) the