Senate blunder!

THE Senate spent hours debating a version of the Environmental Protection Levy (EPL) Bill last Friday before a major procedural error was uncovered during the lunch break, forcing the chamber to close the proceedings, withdraw the improperly certified Bill, and restart the legislative process with a corrected version.

The Bill was eventually passed without further amendments, but not before senators had to retrace the required procedural steps after discovering that the version before them did not carry the certification identifying it as a money Bill.

The discovery came after Government Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon returned from the break and informed legislators that the version circulated in the Senate was not the one that had been properly certified.