Less than a week after a tardy MP denied the Baillieu Liberal Government the numbers to pass a bill stripping back protections in the Victorian Equal Opportunities Act, the Government has brought the bill back for a second vote and passed it.
Under the rules of the Victorian Parliament a bill cannot be voted on more than once in a session of Parliament.
However the Government set procedure aside and brought the bill up for another vote despite outcry from the Victorian Opposition.
Victorian Attorney General Robert Clark pointed to the different rules used in the Federal Parliament regarding missed votes.
“It’s clearly recognised by the commonwealth parliament that in cases where there is a misadventure, where there is a missed vote, it is appropriate for the question to be again put.”
GLBT activists had appealed to government MPs to vote with their conscience but in the end the bill was passed unanimously by Coalition members in a vote of 43-42.
It is unclear at this stage whether putting the bill up for a vote in this manner could be subject to court challenge.
Read this article at http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/2011/06/02/baillieu-government-strips-equal-opportunities-protections/53633
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