World | Australia
Marathon speech delays Bill vote
An Australian lawmaker who spoke for eight hours straight says he ended his speech because he had worked a full day.
- AP
- Published: 23:56 May 9, 2008
Adelaide: An Australian lawmaker who spoke for eight hours straight says he ended his speech because he had worked a full day.
Mark Parnell has held up a vote on changes to workers' compensation laws with his marathon contribution to a parliamentary debate. He is a member of the Upper House in South Australia state for the left-leaning Greens party. He started his speech at about 11am Thursday and ended about twelve hours later, taking breaks for lunch and dinner in between.
At the end he said: "Mr President, with those brief remarks I'll conclude." Independent lawmaker Ann Bressington then rose to her feet and spoke for five hours. The two legislators managed to defer a vote on the Bill until June.
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