Rearrangement of Business
Speakers
Summary
This motion concerns a request by Leader of the House Ms Indranee Rajah to rearrange the order of parliamentary business regarding three motions related to Minister Iswaran. She proposed that Ms Hazel Poa’s motion for leave to introduce a Bill to amend the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act be heard after motions on Member conduct and suspension. The Leader of the House Ms Indranee Rajah argued that the legislative amendment to allow back-paying cleared Members is contingent upon whether the House first resolves to suspend the Member in question. This change was intended to provide a more logical sequence of debate and facilitate the efficient conduct of proceedings by addressing the suspension issue before the related legal remedy. Parliament agreed to the motion, resulting in the procedural rescheduling of the private Member's Bill to follow the conclusion of the two related substantive motions.
Transcript
The Leader of the House (Ms Indranee Rajah): Mr Speaker, I beg to move, "That, pursuant to Standing Order 10(2), the Motion for leave to bring in a Bill by Ms Hazel Poa be taken immediately after the proceedings on the Motions on 'Consideration of Matters Regarding Member of Parliament' and 'Suspension of Member' have been concluded."
Mr Speaker, as Members are aware, the Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP), Ms Hazel Poa, has filed two Motions. In her first Motion titled "Suspension of Member", she is moving to suspend Minister Iswaran from service of Parliament with the consequence that no Member of Parliament (MP) allowance shall be paid to him for the period of suspension.
Her second Motion is for leave to introduce a Bill to amend the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act of 1962, or the PPIPA. Specifically, she is seeking to amend the Act to allow Parliament to back pay Mr Iswaran should he be subsequently cleared of any wrongdoing and resume his official duties. This being an amendment of a Bill by a Private Member, leave of Parliament to introduce the Bill is necessary under Standing Order 66(1).
I have separately filed a Motion titled "Consideration of Matters Regarding Member of Parliament" which deals with Members' standard of conduct, calls for firm and fair dealings with Members under investigation for wrongdoing and proposes that the matters relating to Mr Iswaran be considered when the outcome of the investigation is known.
All three Motions are scheduled to be dealt with today.
In the normal Order of Business, under the Standing Orders, Motions for leave to introduce Bills would be dealt with before Motions on matters to be debated.
In this case, however, the question of whether there is a need to amend the PPIPA to allow Parliament to back pay Mr Iswaran will depend on whether or not Parliament resolves to suspend him in the first place. This, in turn, will depend on the outcome of my Motion and Ms Poa's other Motion, which I will be asking to be debated simultaneously.
I am, therefore, moving to revise the Order of Business such that Ms Poa's Motion for leave to bring in a Bill to amend the PPIPA will be taken immediately after the proceedings on my Motion and Ms Poa's other Motion have concluded. This would be a more logical flow and allow for more efficient conduct of parliamentary business. Mr Speaker, I beg to move.
Question put, and agreed to.
Resolved, "That, pursuant to Standing Order 10(2), the Motion for leave to bring in a Bill by Ms Hazel Poa be taken immediately after the proceedings on the Motions on 'Consideration of Matters Regarding Member of Parliament' and 'Suspension of Member' have been concluded." – [Ms Indranee Rajah].