Motion: Debate Be Adjourned: Greens Palestine

MOTION

‘DEBATE BE ADJOURNED: GREENS PALESTINE’.

Thursday, 22 February 2024.

Mr NEWBURY (Brighton) (16:15):

It concerns me that –

Tim Read: On a point of order, Speaker, the member for Melbourne was clearly on her feet well ahead of the Member for Brighton.

Members interjecting.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Without assistance. Proportionality in the Chamber – and both members stood at about the same time. The Member for Brighton has the call. You can seek leave to have the call following the end of the debate, I presume.

James NEWBURY: Firstly, the Coalition will not be supporting this motion. As I have raised in this Chamber a number of times, we will not be supporting this motion because what we are seeing sadly in this place is a set of tactics that are being used, like the Motion before the House at the moment, that are an inappropriate use of this House.

I am not suggesting that there are not circumstances where debate should be adjourned. There are circumstances where debate should be adjourned, but what we have seen over recent weeks, almost consecutive weeks, is a set of tactics that are seeking to use this House in an inappropriate way, and that is what this motion does. What this Motion intends to do is to frankly light a fire under an issue. That is what the intention is.

Today the Greens had an opportunity to ask the Premier of this great State a question in Question Time – that is their right, and so it should be their right – and they did ask a question of the Premier.

There are opportunities in this place to raise issues, and the Greens did that this very day. They have many opportunities to raise issues.

In no way am I arguing that there should not be more opportunities for the non-government side of this place to speak on matters. There should be more opportunities, and it is one of the reasons why I proposed a second chamber of this very place, so that we could have debates on other matters. But this place is not a place that should be used to light fires under issues, and that is what this Motion seeks to do.

What concerns me – and the Coalition, as I said, will not be supporting this Motion – is that the impact of what is happening in this place is having a profound effect outside this Chamber.

I would say to every Member, as they consider how they will vote, to consider what the impact of voting yes would be outside this Chamber. Every occasion over recent weeks – the repeated incidents of the Parliament being shut down, or in this case shut down or diverted – has had an impact outside this place. That is why this side of the House and, as I understand it, the Government could not in good conscience support this Motion. How can you support this motion?

I would say to all Members of this place: we need to look at the way these tactics are being used and whether or not that is an appropriate use of this place. We need to think through the impact that this is now having very closely, because we certainly would not want to make changes that impinge on rights of Members to do things in this place as they should. But there is a difference between using this place appropriately and not, and I think we almost all in this place agree that what we have seen over recent weeks is of deep, deep concern.

The Premier spoke to that matter. I have spoken to that matter. There is, I believe, in terms of the major parties a bipartisan concern over what is happening in this place. And on this very Motion, which is another instance of that behaviour, we cannot let it continue. We cannot let an activism creep into this place which is dangerous and has an impact outside of here.

So, on the motion, I would say the Coalition will not be supporting it. I think that as a Parliament we need to consider what has been happening recently and consider what options we may have, because we cannot allow people to be hurt, and that is what is happening.

Motions like this hurt people. It fuels fires that people in leadership and community leadership should know better than to do, so the Coalition will be strongly opposing this Motion today.