House rises early

The sitting of the House of Representatives was adjourned during Question Time yesterday because of lack of quorum.

The call for quorum was made by Labour MP Joe Mizzi after he protested that Transport Minister Jesmond Mugliett was not in the House to reply to parliamentary questions, even though he was not abroad on governemnt duties.

The Speaker, Anton Tabone, quoted Standing Order 156 which says that: "It is the duty of every Member of the House to attend its service and that of any Select Committee of which he may be a member."

At the time of the quorum call there were three MPs on the Opposition benches and six on the government side including the Prime Minister.

At the start of the sitting MPs received the House of Representatives Annual Review 2006, which shows, among other things, that there were 24 calls for quorum in 2006, including 10 in one sitting. The House was adjourned for the next sitting on six occasions because there was an insufficient number of MPs (15) to form a quorum. Parliament meets again on Monday when it will debate amendments to the Companies Act.