Hon RICHARD PREBBLE (ACT) : I rise to speak, as I said I wanted to, to the Employment Relations (Flexible Working Hours) Amendment Bill.

• The question was raised by Lindsay Tisch that a Minister was not present in the Chamber. The bell was rung.

Hon RICHARD PREBBLE: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I hope there has been no collusion between the Speaker and the Ministers, because we did hear of an outrageous suggestion that Government Ministers are so keen to go eating and drinking with the Indonesian Prime Minister—

Madam SPEAKER: Is this a point of order?

Hon RICHARD PREBBLE: I am making a parliamentary and political point that in my time—

Madam SPEAKER: There is no collusion.

Hon RICHARD PREBBLE: I have never seen Ministers walking out. I also ask for an assurance from you, which is a point of order—

Madam SPEAKER: It is an outrageous suggestion. Would you please sit down—[Interruption] I am on my feet. Under the Standing Orders, as you well know, if there is no Minister in the House, then the Speaker is required to apply the Standing Orders. I am applying the Standing Orders. The bell is ringing. I understand that under the Standing Orders it is a 5-minute bell.

Hon RICHARD PREBBLE: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I notice that you did not reply to the point that I made, and it appeared to me—maybe it was the body language of the Leader of the House—that there is collusion between the Speaker and the Leader of the House.

Madam SPEAKER: Would you please sit down. That is an outrageous allegation and I ask you to please sit down. It is outrageous to suggest that a Speaker would do that. It is my job to apply the Standing Orders. I am doing that. There is no collusion.

Hon RICHARD PREBBLE: Were you advised, or were you not?

Madam SPEAKER: Would the member please refrain. I was not advised of anything except to come back to the House because the session was to continue. I was advised that leave would be sought to lift the House. That is all.

Hon RICHARD PREBBLE: In that case, I withdraw and apologise for my statement suggesting that you had been given prior notice of this. It is a shame that you did not know, but the rest of us did.

Madam SPEAKER: I thank the member for that, otherwise he would also have had to withdraw. The bell is ringing.

John Carter: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. I came into the Chamber because I heard the bell ringing. Could somebody provide clarification for me and for those who have just arrived in the Chamber. I understand that the reason the bell is ringing is that there is no Minister present in the House.

Madam SPEAKER: That is right.

John Carter: I understand that the reason behind it is that the Government does not want us to have members’ day tonight.

Madam SPEAKER: The junior National whip raised the matter that there was no Minister in the House. Therefore, it was the responsibility of the Speaker to ring the bell for 5 minutes to ensure that a Minister will get to the House.

John Carter: Thank you for that. Of course it is the Government’s responsibility to make sure there is a Minister in the House, and the Government is failing in its duty if one does not arrive.

Peter Brown: I raise a point of order, Madam Speaker. Can you assure the House that this is not a test run for flexible hours of work, to prove that it will not work?

Madam SPEAKER: I point out that these are interesting points of order but no proceedings can take place until there is a Minister present.

• The Speaker declared that a Minister was not present.
• Debate interrupted.