ALL eight Opposition senators were yesterday absent from a bill-laying session of the Senate, which itself lasted a record six minutes.

When the sitting began at 10:31 am, half-an-hour after it was scheduled to begin, eight of 13 Government senators were present, but Opposition senators Sandrea Falconer, Mark Golding, Basil Waite, A J Nicholson, K D Knight, Navel Clarke, Norman Grant, and Noel Sloley were not in the chambers.

Government members absent were: Dr Ronald Robinson, Dennis Meadows, Don Wehby and Ian Murray.

Leader of Government Business in the Senate and Attorney-General Senator Dorothy Lightbourne said it was not intended for the sitting be a lengthy one, but was arranged so that the Act to Amend the Property Tax Act could be laid. The bill had been passed in the House of Representatives without amendment on March 4.

Lightbourne did not comment on the absence of members, and it was not clear whether the brevity of the sitting was the reason no Opposition member had thought it fit to be present.

In asking for the adjournment at 10:37 am, Lightbourne said minister without portfolio in the finance ministry, Senator Dwight Nelson, would pilot the bill when the Senate meets on March 20, for the last time before Parliament prorogues before the start of the new legislative year in April.

"This sitting today was necessary because we had this bill to be passed in this financial year and so it had to be laid," said Lightbourne. "We hoped to have circulated it to the members of the Opposition so that possibly we could have considered the bill today, but this was not done and so it was necessary to lay it. We are going to seek the indulgence of everyone here, including the Opposition, to take this bill on Holy Thursday."

"There were some other matters we hoped to do but we will defer them in the light that this is a quick and very brief sitting," she added.

Under Standing Order 78, which addresses the absence of members: "Any member who is prevented from attending a meeting of the Senate shall acquaint the clerk as early as possible of his inability to attend. Such notices are to be in writing."

At 11:54 am the Observer got hold of a memorandum addressed to president of the Senate, Oswald Harding, written by Opposition senator Sandrea Falconer, on behalf of Leader of Opposition Business Senator A J Nicholson to say "Opposition Senators (would) not be able to attend the (day's) sitting" and asked "to be excused".

The notice was received by the deputy clerk, Verona Curtis, at 11:23 am. It was, however, said to have been sent to secretary of the clerk to the Houses, Heather Cooke, via e-mail at 8:25 am.

Parliament's personnel, however, said they had not seen the notification until after 11:00 am - long after the sitting had adjourned.

Later yesterday afternoon, one senior Opposition member said the absences "were not a big deal".
According to the senator, the fact that Opposition members were absent was not significant as it had not stopped the laying of the bill.

"Nothing prevented the bill from being laid; it was laid, wasn't it?" the senator asked, adding that their absence "was neither here nor there" and was not worthy of being reported by the media either.

"That is not news," the senator said.
The amendment to the Act was sought to formalise a simplification of the basis for payment which was provisionally introduced in 2005 by former finance minister Dr Omar Davies, based on valuations undertaken by the National Land Agency in 2002. The move was aimed at increasing compliance.

In the meantime, a Green Paper on the proposed Whistleblower legislation which was circulated prior to the start of the sitting was pulled back minutes later.

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