27th Nov 2023, 1:06 PM – Representatives Crown References Amendment Bill 2023 - Second Reading - Agree with the bill's main idea
Summary
EditThe majority voted in favour of a motion to agree with the main idea of the bill, which is known as giving the bill a second reading in parliamentary jargon. This means they can now discuss it in more detail.
What does this bill do?
According to the bill homepage, the bill:
Amends 29 Acts to update certain references associated with the Crown to reflect the accession of a new Sovereign.
Perth MP Patrick Gorman (Labor) explained that:
The government's view is that this bill is of an administrative nature that reflects the change that has occurred in Australia following the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and the ascension of King Charles III. We think other discussions could happen in other places, but this bill is of a purely administrative nature, and I'd urge all members to support it.
Berowra MP Julian Leeser (Liberal Party) explained why the Coalition opposes the bill:
The Crown References Amendment Bill 2023 makes several amendments to a variety of acts to replace references to 'Her Majesty', 'the Queen' and 'the King' with 'the Sovereign'. The bill creates a new term for senior counsel to include King's Counsel and Queen's Counsel. The bill amends oaths and affirmations by removing references to His or Her Majesty and replacing them with a direction to insert the applicable pronoun. The reason the coalition is opposing this is that when the coalition asked if the government had consulted with the Governor-General on the bill, we were advised that the Prime Minister and the cabinet had no intention of consulting the Governor-General until the bill had reached its royal assent stage. The government wanted to pass the Crown References Amendment Bill without even speaking to the King's representative in Australia, the Governor-General. The Prime Minister wanted to pass the Crown References Amendment Bill before speaking to the Crown. The coalition will not be supporting this bill until we have assurances that the government has consulted with the Crown's representative in Australia, the Governor-General.
Votes Passed by a small majority
Nobody rebelled against their party.
| Party | Votes | |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Greens (75% turnout) | 3 Yes – 0 No | |
| Adam Bandt Melbourne | Yes | |
| Stephen Bates Brisbane | Yes | |
| Elizabeth Watson-Brown Ryan | Yes | |
| Max Chandler-Mather Griffith | Absent | |
| Australian Labor Party (92% turnout) | 71 Yes – 0 No | |
| Anthony Albanese Grayndler | Yes | |
| Anne Aly Cowan | Yes | |
| Michelle Ananda-Rajah Higgins | Yes | |
| Chris Bowen McMahon | Yes | |
| Tony Burke Watson | Yes | |
| Josh Burns Macnamara | Yes | |
| Mark Butler Hindmarsh | Yes | |
| Alison Byrnes Cunningham | Yes | |
| Jim Chalmers Rankin | Yes | |
| Andrew Charlton Parramatta | Yes | |
| Lisa Chesters Bendigo | Yes | |
| Sharon Claydon Newcastle | Yes | |
| Libby Coker Corangamite | Yes | |
| Julie Collins Franklin | Yes | |
| Pat Conroy Shortland | Yes | |
| Mary Doyle Aston | Yes | |
| Mark Dreyfus Isaacs | Yes | |
| Justine Elliot Richmond | Yes | |
| Cassandra Fernando Holt | Yes | |
| Mike Freelander Macarthur | Yes | |
| Carina Garland Chisholm | Yes | |
| Steve Georganas Adelaide | Yes | |
| Andrew Giles Scullin | Yes | |
| Patrick Gorman Perth | Yes | |
| Luke Gosling Solomon | Yes | |
| Julian Hill Bruce | Yes | |
| Ed Husic Chifley | Yes | |
| Stephen Jones Whitlam | Yes | |
| Ged Kearney Cooper | Yes | |
| Matt Keogh Burt | Yes | |
| Peter Khalil Wills | Yes | |
| Catherine King Ballarat | Yes | |
| Madeleine King Brand | Yes | |
| Tania Lawrence Hasluck | Yes | |
| Jerome Laxale Bennelong | Yes | |
| Andrew Leigh Fenner | Yes | |
| Sam Lim Tangney | Yes | |
| Zaneta Mascarenhas Swan | Yes | |
| Kristy McBain Eden-Monaro | Yes | |
| Emma McBride Dobell | Yes | |
| Louise Miller-Frost Boothby | Yes | |
| Brian Mitchell Lyons | Yes | |
| Rob Mitchell McEwen | Yes | |
| Daniel Mulino Fraser | Yes | |
| Shayne Neumann Blair | Yes | |
| Brendan O'Connor Gorton | Yes | |
| Clare O'Neil Hotham | Yes | |
| Alicia Payne Canberra | Yes | |
| Graham Perrett Moreton | Yes | |
| Fiona Phillips Gilmore | Yes | |
| Tanya Plibersek Sydney | Yes | |
| Sam Rae Hawke | Yes | |
| Gordon Reid Robertson | Yes | |
| Dan Repacholi Hunter | Yes | |
| Amanda Rishworth Kingston | Yes | |
| Tracey Roberts Pearce | Yes | |
| Michelle Rowland Greenway | Yes | |
| Joanne Ryan Lalor | Yes | |
| Marion Scrymgour Lingiari | Yes | |
| Bill Shorten Maribyrnong | Yes | |
| Sally Sitou Reid | Yes | |
| David Smith Bean | Yes | |
| Anne Stanley Werriwa | Yes | |
| Meryl Swanson Paterson | Yes | |
| Matt Thistlethwaite Kingsford Smith | Yes | |
| Kate Thwaites Jagajaga | Yes | |
| Maria Vamvakinou Calwell | Yes | |
| Tim Watts Gellibrand | Yes | |
| Anika Wells Lilley | Yes | |
| Josh Wilson Fremantle | Yes | |
| Tony Zappia Makin | Yes | |
| Matt Burnell Spence | Absent | |
| Linda Burney Barton | Absent | |
| Jason Clare Blaxland | Absent | |
| Richard Marles Corio | Absent | |
| Peta Murphy Dunkley | Absent | |
| Susan Templeman Macquarie | Absent | |
| Rebekha Sharkie Mayo Centre Alliance | Absent | |
| Mark Coulton Parkes Deputy Speaker | No | |
| Kate Chaney Curtin Independent | Yes | |
| Zoe Daniel Goldstein Independent | Yes | |
| Andrew Gee Calare Independent | Yes | |
| Helen Haines Indi Independent | Yes | |
| Monique Ryan Kooyong Independent | Yes | |
| Sophie Scamps Mackellar Independent | Yes | |
| Allegra Spender Wentworth Independent | Yes | |
| Zali Steggall Warringah Independent | Yes | |
| Kylea Tink North Sydney Independent | Yes | |
| Andrew Wilkie Clark Independent | Yes | |
| Russell Broadbent Monash Independent | No | |
| Dai Le Fowler Independent | Absent | |
| Bob Katter Kennedy Katter's Australian Party | Yes | |
| Liberal National Party (100% turnout) | 0 Yes – 9 No | |
| Angie Bell Moncrieff | No | |
| Colin Boyce Flynn | No | |
| Cameron Caldwell Fadden | No | |
| Garth Hamilton Groom | No | |
| Henry Pike Bowman | No | |
| Phillip Thompson Herbert | No | |
| Andrew Wallace Fisher | No | |
| Andrew Willcox Dawson | No | |
| Terry Young Longman | No | |
| Liberal Party (91% turnout) | 0 Yes – 30 No | |
| Karen Andrews McPherson | No | |
| Bridget Archer Bass | No | |
| Scott Buchholz Wright | No | |
| David Coleman Banks | No | |
| Warren Entsch Leichhardt | No | |
| Paul Fletcher Bradfield | No | |
| Ian Goodenough Moore | No | |
| Andrew Hastie Canning | No | |
| Alex Hawke Mitchell | No | |
| Luke Howarth Petrie | No | |
| Julian Leeser Berowra | No | |
| Nola Marino Forrest | No | |
| Melissa McIntosh Lindsay | No | |
| Zoe McKenzie Flinders | No | |
| Ted O'Brien Fairfax | No | |
| Tony Pasin Barker | No | |
| Gavin Pearce Braddon | No | |
| Melissa Price Durack | No | |
| Rowan Ramsey Grey | No | |
| James Stevens Sturt | No | |
| Michael Sukkar Deakin | No | |
| Angus Taylor Hume | No | |
| Dan Tehan Wannon | No | |
| Bert Van Manen Forde | No | |
| Ross Vasta Bonner | No | |
| Aaron Violi Casey | No | |
| Jenny Ware Hughes | No | |
| Rick Wilson O'Connor | No | |
| Keith Wolahan Menzies | No | |
| Jason Wood La Trobe | No | |
| Peter Dutton Dickson | Absent | |
| Sussan Ley Farrer | Absent | |
| Scott Morrison Cook | Absent | |
| National Party (83% turnout) | 0 Yes – 10 No | |
| Sam Birrell Nicholls | No | |
| Darren Chester Gippsland | No | |
| Pat Conaghan Cowper | No | |
| Kevin Hogan Page | No | |
| Barnaby Joyce New England | No | |
| Michelle Landry Capricornia | No | |
| Michael McCormack Riverina | No | |
| Llew O'Brien Wide Bay | No | |
| Keith Pitt Hinkler | No | |
| Anne Webster Mallee | No | |
| David Gillespie Lyne | Absent | |
| David Littleproud Maranoa | Absent | |
| Milton Dick Oxley Speaker | Absent | |
| Totals (90% turnout) | 85 Yes – 51 No |
Turnout is the percentage of members eligible to vote that did vote.