It is proposed to take business in the following order: Nos. 1, 2 and 3.
Order of Business.
On the Order of Business, I should like to ask the Leader of the House if he could arrange to have Motion No. 28 concerning the separation of our currency from sterling taken in the near future? I know that the House has ordered two motions to be taken within the fairly near future. I am very pleased that we are keeping up to the agreed number of motions in the current period, which is one per month.
There is a certain amount of urgency about Motion No. 28, because I would forecast that there will be a sterling devaluation this summer of a fairly major nature. Therefore, I feel that we should have an opportunity to discuss Motion No. 28 before such an event takes place because we want to know what the options are. This is a motion framed in the broadest possible terms and it is signed by a number of Senators, many of whom are Members of the Government side. I hope that the Leader of the House, who has given an assurance that he would look into the matter, will do his utmost to ensure that the motion is taken as early as possible, at least well before the summer recess.
I should like to join with Senator West in asking for this motion. One of my reasons is that the discussion on this motion, which will be very important, is to some extent being prejudiced by the Annual Report of the Central Bank, 1975. This House is finding itself now in the curious position of debating a matter of financial legislative precedence after it has been commented on, to some extent, in the Annual Report of the Central Bank and in the newspapers. This reverses the relationship between the Legislature and the Executive. I request that the motion be on the Order of Business as soon as possible.
I can assure Senator West that he occupied the time of the House to good effect. As I mentioned previously, if it is possible to arrange to have this motion taken early, it will be done. But at the urgent request of Senators opposite for two other motions to be given priority, one dealing with education and the other dealing with agriculture, we have succeeded in arranging those. We will try to arrange this— the Minister would probably welcome a discussion on the topic but he is heavily engaged in the other House at the moment.