I wish to thank Senator McPhedran for raising this matter. Unfortunately, the chair did not hear any denial of leave to not see the clock both times that guidance was sought from colleagues yesterday. I very much regret that.

In such cases, it would be entirely appropriate for the senator who denied leave, or a colleague who heard the denial, to raise a point of order to draw the chair’s attention to the issue. All senators have a collective responsibility to assist the Speaker in ensuring the proper functioning of the Senate. Such points of order must be raised while the issue is still relevant. In particular, a point of order relating to a procedural matter should be raised promptly and before the matter is decided, which would render any objection to it out of place. In the case at issue, that would have been when the issue of not seeing the clock was before the Senate.

I am sure that, working together, we can avoid such misunderstandings in the future.