Mark mum on casting deciding vote for Special Ops Bill

Kay­marie Fletch­er

Sen­ate Pres­i­dent Wade Mark is re­fus­ing to pub­licly elab­o­rate on his de­ci­sion to cast the de­cid­ing vote in favour of the Gov­ern­ment’s Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions Bill yes­ter­day, in­sist­ing his rea­son­ing be­longs on the par­lia­men­tary record rather than in pub­lic de­bate.

Mark used his cast­ing vote in the ear­ly hours of yes­ter­day to break a 15-15 dead­lock and se­cure pas­sage of the leg­is­la­tion, which has now cleared both Hous­es of Par­lia­ment. The of­fi­cial par­lia­men­tary record shows the bill passed its third read­ing by 16 votes to 15, with no ab­sten­tions.