Why does Parliament sometimes suspend its standing orders?

The standing orders may be suspended when the Senate or House of Representatives want to temporarily set aside their usual rules. This gives Parliament flexibility in how it carries out its work.

Standing orders are the rules used to manage the work of the Senate and the House of Representatives. Along with the Australian Constitution and long-standing customs, the standing orders guide how each house operates each day. They include rules about what business happens when, and how debates and decisions are managed.

In the Senate and House it is not unusual for a particular standing order or all the standing orders to be suspended to allow a certain action or actions to be taken. Suspending standing orders allows parliamentary business to be carried out in a way which would not otherwise be allowed by the standing orders.

By suspending standing orders, senators and members might be able to:

• allow unlimited or extended time for particular speeches
• introduce a bill – proposed law – which has not been scheduled for debate and allow it to be considered without delay
• consider multiple bills together
• enable censure or other motions to be moved
• enable the introduction of new business after the usual time of adjournment – the end of a sitting day.

A motion to suspend standing orders must be passed by an absolute majority – more than half of the total membership of the Senate or House. 

In the House of Representatives, the procedure of moving for the suspension of standing orders is regularly used by the Opposition as an attempt to debate or highlight matters which it considers to be of national, parliamentary or political importance.