Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) Link to this
I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. I raise this issue now because the House is about to embark upon an adjournment. We are on the point of completing our first two sessions of the year with this new sound system, and although I think it works particularly well in most cases, some problems are becoming apparent during those times when there are heated exchanges across the House and a lot of noise. Because we no longer have our little earpieces, it is often very difficult to hear the particular member who might be speaking. Speakers’ voices tend to get drowned out in a lot of extraneous noise. I wonder whether, during the adjournment, some consideration can be given either to repositioning microphones or to doing something with the technology to make it easier for us to hear. Over the weeks that this new system has been in place, we have often lost the capacity to hear a Minister or a member asking or answering a question against a background of loud noise.
Mr SPEAKERI thank the honourable member for raising the issue. It has been my observation that what tends to make hearing difficult at this end of the Chamber is a background of noise. I often find that it is not interjections that cause problems; it is private discussions around the Chamber that get quite loud and make it difficult to hear. I do not want to pursue the issue now, but if other members have the same concern as the Hon Peter Dunne, they should please raise them with my office. If there is a major concern, we will investigate it further.