Cullen Michael: Parliamentary Service Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
Cullen Michael: Parliamentary Service Amendment Bill — Second Reading 
[Volume:649;Page:17734] 
Hon Dr MICHAEL CULLEN (Leader of the House) 
: 
 I move  
That the Parliamentary Service Amendment Bill be now read a second time 
. The background to this bill is well known to members of the House now. It has been the practice for as long as I can remember—which is a fair amount of time now—that between election night and the return of the writs services continue to be provided to members and to new members apparently elected on election night; that is things such as travel costs accommodation costs and out-of-Parliament expenses. But doubt has now arisen—indeed it is more than that; it is now clear that legislative authority does not exist for those entitlements to continue. In other words without this legislation no such payments can be paid between election night this year and the return of the writs. That does not affect Ministers because Ministers’ entitlements are paid separately under Ministerial Services and Ministers continue in office until any changes have occurred. 
The bill was introduced not very long ago and was sent to the Standing Orders Committee for consideration. At the time of the first reading I explained to the House that I had quite strong reservations personally about one aspect of the bill and that the select committee would need to look carefully at that aspect. That aspect involved determining who indeed was if one likes elected on election night even though the writs had not yet been returned. The bill as introduced made provision for that to be determined by the general manager of the Parliamentary Service who could form an opinion based on the results as known on election night. The select committee came to the view unanimously—and quite properly in my view—that that was not a satisfactory position to place the general manager in and that it was not a satisfactory position for Parliament to be in in that regard. 
The select committee came to the view that the results to be published by the Chief Electoral Office on election night and subsequently give a clear indication of who the member for a particular constituency is and therefore—on the basis of the party vote—who the list MPs elected for each party to be represented in Parliament are. Of course as we have seen those results can change quite significantly under MMP—much more so than under first past the post. At previous elections we have already had a situation where a party did not exist after the election night but where it reappeared on the return of the writs as it passed the 5 percent threshold. Nevertheless the functioning of the political system needs to be such that members are able to receive entitlements to enable business to continue such as discussion about the formation of a Government and any coalition arrangements and all those matters that necessarily cannot wait until the final return of the writs. 
So the select committee has amended the bill in that particular respect and with that one change of significance I am very happy now to support the bill and to move the second reading.