No. 5 Suspension of standing orders (PDF 70KB)

The Senate conducts its business in accordance with standing orders. These are procedural rules to facilitate the orderly conduct of business and protect the rights of individual senators.

At any time, the Senate may decide to vary the way it does business. These variations are made by a decision of the Senate following a motion. Such motions usually require notice (see Guide No. 8—Notices of motion).

However, the Senate may decide that there is an urgent need to override the standing orders to take action that the standing orders would otherwise prevent. In these circumstances, there are two ways in which the Senate dispenses with its normal rules in order to take a different course of action:

• by granting leave; or
• by a motion to suspend the standing orders.

What is leave?

"Leave" means unanimous consent from all senators present to allow something to happen that normally would not be permitted under the standing orders. A senator may object by simply saying "no" when the chair asks "is leave granted?".

In what circumstances are standing orders suspended?

When leave is refused or it appears likely that it will be refused, a senator may move for standing orders to be suspended to enable a course of action to be followed. If such a motion is moved without notice, it requires the agreement of an absolute majority of the whole Senate (39 senators). With notice, it requires only a simple majority (a majority of senators voting).

A motion to suspend standing orders is often connected with a proposal to rearrange the Senate's business, including for the purpose of initiating a completely new item of business. Although a minister may move a motion without notice at any time in connection with the conduct of business (standing order 56), other senators may not. In some cases, a suspension of standing orders may be designed to give other senators the same powers as ministers to rearrange business. However, not even a minister may initiate completely new business without notice, so ministers may sometimes move for the suspension of standing orders to achieve this.

Most motions to suspend standing orders are moved by a special type of notice called a contingent notice, which only requires a simple majority to be agreed to rather than an absolute majority. A contingent notice is a notice that a particular motion will be moved when a certain event happens or a certain stage in the proceedings is reached. Most contingent notices are lodged at the beginning of a new parliament by party leaders and independent senators. Contingent notices commonly used include:

• to enable a motion to be moved immediately and determined without debate during formal motions, if a request for formality has been denied;
• to enable a senator to make a statement, if they have been denied leave to do so;
• to enable a senator to table a document, if they have been refused leave to do so; and
• to enable the consideration of a motion of which notice has not been given.

Can a motion to suspend standing orders be debated?

After a motion to suspend standing orders is moved, the mover and other senators may speak for up to 5 minutes in favour or against the proposal to suspend standing orders. Unlike with other motions, the mover of a motion to suspend standing orders does not have a right of reply (the opportunity to speak again at the end of the debate).

A motion to suspend standing orders may be debated for up to 30 minutes, at which time the question will be put to a vote.

Motions to suspend standing orders connected with formal motions may not be debated (the question will be put to a vote immediately after it is moved).

What is the effect of suspending standing orders?

If a motion to suspend standing orders is agreed to it allows the senator to take the course of action to which the motion was directed. For instance, if a senator moves a motion to suspend standing orders to enable them to make a statement and the motion is agreed to, the senator may then make that statement.

For more detail on the rules of debate, see chapter 8 of Odgers' Australian Senate Practice.

Need assistance?

As the process of suspending standing orders is often complicated, senators are often assisted in the process by officers of the Senate department.

For assistance with any of the matters covered by this guide, government senators or their staff should contact the Clerk Assistant (Table), on extension 3020 or ca.table.sen@aph.gov.au; and non-government senators or their staff should contact the Clerk Assistant (Procedure), on extension 3380 or ca.procedure.sen@aph.gov.au.

Last reviewed: June 2025