AS OF next Thursday, the Senate will begin its sittings at 10:00 a.m. rather than the customary 11 a.m. starting time.
On Friday, the Senate approved the recommendation of its Standing Orders committee, paving the way for the move.
During its sitting on April 11, the committee agreed that an earlier starting time would allow Senators to get through more work during sittings. Leader of Opposition Business, Senator Anthony Johnson, brought a resolution to the Senate in March calling for the matter to be referred to the Standing Orders Committee for discussion.
Opposition Senator, Dorothy Lightbourne, was the sole dissenting voice on the matter which received support from both the Government and Opposition benches.
When the matter was raised in the Senate in March, Senator Lightbourne argued that she found an 11 a.m. starting time more convenient because it allowed her to get more work done at her office before coming to the Senate.
However, she did not reiterate her views when the matter came up for debate in the Senate on Friday.
