Thursday, 9 June 2022

Child Employment Amendment Bill 2022

Introduction and first reading

The PRESIDENT (18:11): I have a message from the Assembly:

The Legislative Assembly presents for the agreement of the Legislative Council ‘A Bill for an Act to amend the Child Employment Act 2003 and the Education and Training Reform Act 2006 to make further provision in relation to the employment of children and to make consequential amendments to other Acts and for other purposes’.

Mr LEANE (Eastern Metropolitan—Minister for Local Government, Minister for Suburban Development, Minister for Veterans) (18:11): I move:

That the bill be now read a first time.

Motion agreed to.

Read first time.

Mr LEANE: I move, by leave:

That the second reading be taken forthwith.

Motion agreed to.

Statement of compatibility

Mr LEANE (Eastern Metropolitan—Minister for Local Government, Minister for Suburban Development, Minister for Veterans) (18:12): I lay on the table a statement of compatibility with the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006:

In accordance with section 28 of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (the Charter), I make this statement of compatibility with respect to the Child Employment Amendment Bill 2022 (the Bill).

In my opinion, the Bill, as introduced to the Legislative Council, is compatible with the human rights protected by the Charter. I base my opinion on the reasons outlined in this statement.

Overview of the Bill

The Bill amends the Child Employment Act 2003 (the Principal Act) to, amongst other things:

• amend the meaning of employment for the purposes of the Principal Act;

• replace child employment officers with authorised officers and to provide for the appointment and powers of authorised officers;

• enable the Wage Inspectorate Victoria to issue compliance notices for contraventions;

• increase the penalties for certain offences and to provide for the criminal liability of nominated officers and employer representatives in certain circumstances; and

• provide for a new system of licences to allow the employment of children under the age of 15 years.

Human rights issues

Amendments to provisions regulating child employment

The Bill makes a number of amendments to provisions in the Principal Act that regulate the employment of children under 15 years of age in Victoria, including:

• amending the definition of what is employment for the purpose of the Principal Act to provide more clarity and include not-for-profit entities (clauses 6 and 46);

• raising the age for child employment in pharmaceutical delivery from 11 years old to 13 years old (clause 11);

• providing for prohibited conduct in entertainment employment, involving employer duties to ensure that a child employed in entertainment is not subjected to certain behaviour or strong adult content (clause 14) and supervision requirements for children participating in casting or audition processes (clause 18);

• altering the exception applying to child employment in a family business to only apply where children are directly employed by their parents or another person who has parental responsibility for the child (clause 5) and to impose a duty of direct supervision on that person with parental responsibility (clause 23);

• increasing the minimum age of a person who is supervising a child to 18 years old to ensure that children aged 15 to 18 years old are not attributed the responsibility of implementing Child Safe Standards (clause 17); and

• replacing the current individual permit system with a licensing system to streamline and simplify the process for obtaining permission to employ a child under 15 years (Part 3 of the Bill).

These amendments will engage the rights to protection of children (s 17(2)), equality (s 9), privacy (s 13) and protection of family (s 17(1)) which I will discuss in turn.

Rights of children (s 17(2))

Section 17(2) of the Charter provides that every child has the right, without discrimination, to such protection as is in their best interests and is needed by them by reason of being a child. This right recognises the special vulnerability of children, and requires states to adopt social, cultural and economic measures to protect children to foster their development and education. The scope of the right is informed by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires that in all actions concerning children, the best interests of the child shall be the primary consideration. The Convention recognises that children face greater risks to their health, safety and welfare at work, due to their physical, mental and emotional immaturity, and their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse. The scope of the right thus includes a right to protection from economic exploitation or any work likely to be hazardous or interfere with a child’s education, or be harmful to their physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. The right obliges legislative protection, including providing for minimum employment ages and appropriate regulation to the hours and conditions of employment.

The suite of amendments to the provisions regulating child employment will promote this right by ensuring that the Principal Act remains effective and best practice at protecting the risks to children posed by child employment in light of a changing social and work environment. The amendments take account of developments such as broadened child safe standards, increased focus on risk-based frameworks to target regulatory activities and changing expectations for education participation.

In relation to the removal of the current permit scheme and replacement with a licence scheme, I am satisfied that these suite of amendments will continue to provide strong protection of children from exploitation in the workplace, whilst supporting opportunities for children to benefit from employment. Licence applicants will be required to satisfy a ‘fit and proper person’ test, particularly in relation to past compliance with child employment and other relevant workplace laws (clauses 56 and 57). Compliance with the new Child Safe Standards under the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 will be a requirement under the new child employment licence.

The Bill will apply existing monitoring and enforcement powers in the Principal Act to the licensing scheme, and, as will be discussed below, will broaden such powers to ensure effective investigations into contraventions or possible contraventions of the Principal Act and the regulations. The Bill provides for licences to be suspended or cancelled where the health, safety, wellbeing or development or education of a child is suffering or is likely to suffer from the employment, the child is being or is likely to be subjected to any form of exploitation in the course of the employment, or the employment is prohibited employment (clause 61). Additionally, the Bill introduces a suite of contravention offences for employer representatives and nominees, who knowingly permit or authorise a range of prohibited conduct involving child employment to occur, or fail to take reasonable steps to prevent such conduct occurring (clause 68).

Accordingly, I am satisfied that these suite of amendments will promote the children’s right to protection in the Charter.

Rights to privacy and equality (s 8 and 13)

Section 8 of the Charter relevantly provides that every person is entitled to equal protection of the law without discrimination and has the right to equal and effective protection against discrimination. ‘Discrimination’ under the Charter is defined by reference to the definition in the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (EO Act) on the basis of an attribute in section 6 of that Act, which includes age. Direct discrimination occurs where a person treats, or proposes to treat, a person with an attribute unfavourably because of that attribute.

Additionally, section 13(a) of the Charter provides that a person has the right not to have their privacy unlawfully or arbitrarily interfered with. Privacy is a broad right that protects, amongst other things, an individual’s interest in the freedom of their personal and social sphere, including their freedom to pursue their chosen employment and develop social relations in the course of employment. An interference will be lawful if it is permitted by a law which is precise and appropriately circumscribed, and will be arbitrary only if it is capricious, unpredictable, unjust or unreasonable, in the sense of being disproportionate to the legitimate aim sought.

The suite of amendments to the provisions regulating child employment will engage a child’s right to equality and privacy, in that these amendments may place additional restrictions on a child’s capacity to engage in their chosen employment, or prevent employment entirely in certain circumstances, and does so on the basis of a protected attribute (being their age). However, in my view, any limits on the right to equality are reasonable justified and any interferences with privacy are proportionate to the aim and not arbitrary. The important objective of these provisions is to protect children from undertaking work posing risks to their health, safety or wellbeing, or prejudicing their attendance at school. The amendments are informed by the findings of a significant review on child employment in Victoria and extensive consultation with key industry stakeholders, peak bodies, community organisations and relevant government agencies. The amendments target a number of key issues and risks identified by research and consultation, including a lack of clarity around the meaning of employment, an absence of protections for children aged between 15 and 17 years (particularly in the entertainment industry), concerns and confusion around the exclusion of family business from existing permit requirements and concerns about school exemptions for children working in entertainment and the potential impact on their education. Accordingly, I am satisfied that these provisions are compatible with the Charter.

Protection of family (s 17(1))

Section 17(1) of the Charter provides that families are the fundamental group unit of society and are entitled to be protected by society and the State. The right in s 17(1) is related to s 13(a) of the Charter, which relevantly provides that every person has the right not to be subject to unlawful or arbitrary interferences with their family.

It remains open as to whether the scope of this right would extend to protecting against interferences with a family business, and specifically a family’s capacity to employ their children, however, should these amendments be considered to limit this right, I consider any limits to be reasonably justified on the basis of protecting the best interests of the child, for the reasons advanced above. I note that case law has considered that the best interests of the child in s 17(2) are the paramount consideration when interpreting this right, and that the family’s interests are ultimately subordinate to those of the child.

Notification and information sharing requirements

The Bill makes a number of amendments to notification and information sharing requirements, including:

• ongoing notification requirements of licence holders relating to an employed child’s name, date of birth, home address, parental details, workplace, employment duties and hours of employment, amongst other things (clause 61);

• broadening the confidentiality provision to permit authorised officers to share information with the Secretary, the Department and the Minster (clause 37).

These provisions are relevant to the right to privacy, in relation to any personal information of a person captured by these provisions. In relation to the first amendment, the notification obligations are necessary to ensure the Wage Inspectorate Victoria is able to properly assess and monitor the risks of a particular employment. Any information provided under this provision will be subject to the existing confidentiality provision in the Principal Act prohibiting any unauthorised disclosure. In relation to the second amendment, as the Secretary and the Department advise the Minister in relation to the administration of the Wage Inspectorate Victoria, and Minister is in turn responsible to Parliament, such information sharing is necessary to facilitate the effective operation and funding of that entity and facilitate Ministerial responsibility.

Accordingly, I am satisfied that any interference with privacy resulting from these amendments will be proportionate and not arbitrary.

Broadening existing compulsive powers

The Bill transfers the existing enforcement functions and powers provided for in the Principal Act to authorised officers appointed by the Wage Inspectorate Victoria. The Bill also broadens these existing powers, which previously could be exercised in relation to investigating an application for a permit or monitoring compliance with the child employment law, in the following ways:

• providing for an additional purpose for which such powers can be exercised, which is to the extent reasonably necessary to investigate contraventions or possible contraventions of the Principal Act and regulations (clause 30);

• expanding the purpose in which a power of entry over a place of business can be exercised to also include investigating contraventions or possible contraventions of the Principal Act and the regulations (clause 31);

• broadening the powers on entry to include photographing, audio-recording or filming any part of a workplace (clause 32);

• broadening the scope of the power to compel production of documents to include for the purpose of investigating contraventions or possible contraventions of the Principal Act or regulations (clause 32); and

• broadening the power to give directions to apply where reasonably necessary to do so to respond to an immediate or serious risk to health, safety, wellbeing or development of any child employed at the premises (clause 33).

The broadened powers engage the right to privacy (s 13), and in the case of the compulsion of documents, the right not to be compelled to testify guilt (s 25(2)(k)), in that they may be potentially exercised over a greater cohort of persons.

The primary purpose of these amendments is to ensure that authorised officers have adequate powers to conduct investigations into contraventions or possible contraventions of the Principal Act, which advance the underlying objective of child safety in employment. These targeted amendments address identified limitations of existing powers, which, if not remedied, risk compromising these underlying objectives of the Principal Act to protect children.

The expansion of the statutory purposes for which the compulsive powers can be exercised, from mere ‘monitoring of compliance’ to include investigating possible contraventions, is necessary to ensure authorised officers are able to respond to identified risks in certain sectors of employment. This includes permitting compulsive powers to be exercised against third party providers who may be engaged in the employment of a child, but are not considered to be the employer for the purposes of the Principal Act. This is particularly prevalent in the entertainment industry, such as through the engagement of talent agents. These providers act as an intermediary between the child and employer, and may have relevant evidence to the investigation of a contravention of the child employment laws, such as correspondence with parents or employers about conditions of employment relevant to a contravention. The amendments allow evidence to be sought from this third party, which may arguably not otherwise come within the scope of the existing purpose of monitoring compliance with the Act (as third party providers have no obligations or need to comply under the Act).

The inclusion of powers to take photographs, audio-recording or filming of a workplace are necessary to support these investigative powers, and ensure that evidence of a contravention can be collected to support compliance and prosecutorial processes. The amended power to issue directions is necessary to ensure the power to give protective directions can be exercised in relation to identified serious risks that may not be immediate, and is consistent with comparative powers of work safety inspectors under occupational health and safety laws.

These expanded powers remain subject to the existing safeguards in the Principal Act, including requiring all powers to be exercised with as little inconvenience as possible, limiting powers of entry to places of employment during ordinary working hours with the requirement to not remain on premises any longer than is reasonably necessary, requiring occupier consent to enter any residence and the protection against self-incrimination in relation to compelled provision of information (with the exception of provision of documents required to be kept under the Principal Act).

Accordingly, I am satisfied that these amendments are compatible with the Charter.

Compliance notices

Clause 38 introduces a scheme of compliance notices, which the Wage Inspectorate Victoria may issue to a person where the Inspectorate reasonably believe the person has contravened the Act. The Notice must state the action that the person must take to remedy the alleged contravention and the date by which such action is required to be taken. It is an offence to fail to comply with a compliance notice, by failing to take the action specified in the notice by the specified date.

As the prosecution of a failure to comply with a compliance notice does not require proof of the commission of the underlying contravention to which the notice was issued, this may engage the right to the presumption of innocence in the Charter (ss 25(1)). Section 25(1) provides that a person charged with a criminal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law. Additionally, a proceeding for a non-compliance offence may also require a person to respond to matters relevant to the alleged contravention, engaging s 25(2)(k) of the Charter which provides that a person cannot be compelled to testify against themselves or confess guilt. The scope of both these rights have been interpreted as extending to protect a person to circumstances prior to the issuing of a criminal charge.

However, in my view, the provision attracts adequate safeguards so as to not constitute a limit on these rights. As a preliminary point, the compliance notice scheme serves an important objective of providing authorised officers with a timely and targeted mechanism for compelling a person to take necessary remedial action in response to an identified or alleged (on the basis of reasonable belief) contravention of the Act. It facilitates the immediate and direct prevention or remediation of conduct which may be putting a child risk and may be continuing, in a way that proceeding with a prosecution for an alleged contravention is not able to do.

Secondly, to protect the above mentioned criminal process rights, new section 46D provides that during the period specified in the compliance notice (including any extensions), no proceeding may be commenced for an offence against the Principal Act that is constituted by the alleged contravention to which the compliance notice relates, and no other enforcement action may be taken in relation to that alleged contravention. If a person fulfils all of the requirements of the compliance notice, no proceeding may be commenced for the alleged contravention to which the compliance notice was issued, and no other enforcement action may be taken in respect of the alleged contravention. The clause further provides, amongst other things, that the fulfilment of the requirements of a compliance notice by a person is not to be taken as an admission of guilt in relation to the offence or an alleged contravention of a provision of the Principal Act. Finally, a person retains the right to seek judicial review of the issuing of a compliance notice, particularly in circumstances where it is disputed that any alleged contravention has been committed.

Accordingly, I am satisfied the compliance notice scheme provided for in the Bill is compatible with the Charter.

The Hon Jaclyn Symes MP

Attorney-General

Second reading

Mr LEANE (Eastern Metropolitan—Minister for Local Government, Minister for Suburban Development, Minister for Veterans) (18:12): I move:

That the second-reading speech be incorporated into Hansard.

Motion agreed to.

Mr LEANE: I move:

That the bill be now read a second time.

Incorporated speech as follows:

Background

The Bill amends the Child Employment Act 2003 (the Act) to improve the efficiency and operation of the child employment regulatory scheme, whilst maintaining levels of protection for children in the workplace. It introduces a streamlined child employment licensing system which is risk-based and targeted, to replace the current individual permit system. It also provides additional clarity and certainty for persons who engage children under 15 years as well as providing the Wage Inspectorate with a new suite of compliance tools in line with its role as a modern regulator.

The Act regulates the employment of children under 15 years of age in Victoria. The last few years in particular have seen significant changes to the employment landscape as well as to regulation around child protection which may impact on children in the workforce. In light of this a comprehensive review of the Act was undertaken to ensure it was responsive to contemporary workplace issues and provided an effective, modern regulatory regime.

The Act is designed to:

• set out the age, types of work and conditions applicable to child employment;

• protect children from performing work that could:

• be harmful to their health or safety;

• impact on their moral or material welfare or development;

• impact on their attendance at school;

• protect children from being subject to any form of exploitation.

The current regulatory scheme

The employment of children under 15 years is primarily regulated through a permit system. Children aged 11 years and over can undertake delivery work where their employer obtains a general industries permit. Similarly, children aged 13 years and over are able to be employed under a general industries permit.

There is no minimum age for children to work in the entertainment industry, which generally includes performing, modelling, photographic and television/film work. However, a specific entertainment industry permit is required. A mandatory code of practice further prescribes conditions around the employment of children in the entertainment industry.

Children of any age working in family businesses are exempt from the permit requirements.

Children are only permitted to undertake light work (as defined) and are excluded from employment in a number of hazardous industries and from performing dangerous tasks.

Review of the Act

A review of the Act commenced in 2019 by procuring a significant piece of research which focused on gathering data about the incidence of child employment in Victoria, the types of work children were doing and their experiences in the workplace. ABS data generally only collects information on persons over the age of 15 years in the workforce and there had not been any substantial research done in this area since 2006. Therefore, there were considerable knowledge gaps about child employment in Victoria and across Australia more broadly.

The research found that the retail (35%) and food services (21%) industries were employing the largest number of children under 15 years, with the entertainment industry third. It also found that there were a large number of employers who were unaware of the Act and also a widely (but wrongly) held belief that children are able to be employed from the age of 14 years and 9 months. Children generally reported positive experiences of working and were largely motivated by wanting to earn their own money and gaining skills and experience in the workplace.

Upon completion of the research, Industrial Relations Victoria (IRV) undertook extensive consultation with key industry stakeholders, peak bodies, community organisations and relevant government agencies. The consultation included a number of targeted, in-depth focus groups as well as a survey and invitation for written submissions utilising the Engage Victoria website.

The research and consultation identified a number of key issues with the operation of the Act, including a lack of clarity around the meaning of employment and a high regulatory burden associated with the individual permit requirements as well as the regulatory regime’s inability to respond to dynamic industry needs.

Proposed reforms

New licensing system

The Bill introduces a streamlined child employment licensing system which is risk-based and targeted to replace the current individual permit system.

One of the key issues identified by stakeholders and industry participants during consultation was the inefficiency of the current permit system. Employers currently require a permit for each individual child they engage. This means that some employers who engage children frequently, such as those in the entertainment industry, can have hundreds of permits at a time, creating a significant amount of administrative work. Moving to a targeted licensing system where an employer only requires one licence will streamline the process and make it easier for employers to comply.

The new licensing system will, however, maintain the distinction between an entertainment licence and a general industry licence, recognising the unique protections required for children working in the entertainment sector. The new licensing system introduces two key new roles for the entertainment licence—the nominated officer and the employer representative. These roles create an additional level of responsibility and accountability for the protection of children performing work under an entertainment licence. A licence applicant will also be required to satisfy a ‘fit and proper person’ test. This ensures that current levels of protections for children in the workplace are maintained moving to the new system. The general industry licence covers all children’s work that is not entertainment work.

The other key issue identified during the review and the consultation process is that the current permit system is not targeted to risk. Currently the same information is required on a permit application irrespective of the work the child is performing and the risks involved. The new licensing system will be risk-based and the information required for a licence application and any conditions of a licence will be targeted to risk.

New definition of ‘employment’

The Bill updates the definition of ‘employment’ to provide greater clarity and certainty to people engaging children about what activities performed by children are considered employment for the purposes of the Act. The definition recognises that children can be engaged in a variety of different ways and in activities that may not ordinarily meet the multi-factorial common law test to determine an employment relationship. It further recognises that sometimes children are not remunerated in the usual way and may be provided with products, merchandise or experience for the work or tasks they carry out rather than with monetary payment. The amended definition makes the application of the Act clearer and easier to understand.

In addition to providing clearer boundaries to what employing a child does and does not include, the definition is also amended to remove the reference to a business, trade or occupation being carried on ‘for profit’. This extends protection for children in employment, as the profit status of an organisation is not determinative of potential risk to children in this setting. The Department sought a Legislative Impact Assessment (LIA) to determine the impact on the not-for-profit sector. The impact was found to be low to moderate with the additional protections for children clearly outweighing the burden.

The exclusions for certain activities remain. This includes participating in a church, religious service or program and performing in a project or entertainment for the benefit of a church or religious body. This is because there are other, more effective legislative mechanisms to address known risks, such as the criminal law, reportable conduct scheme, work health and safety laws and the Child Safe Standards. Ministers of religion are also required to obtain a Working with Children Check. Employment of children in relation to low-risk sporting activities (such as coaching, refereeing and umpiring) also remain excluded. The Child Employment Act aims to regulate risks to children associated with work and the tasks they are required to perform as part of that work, such as fatigue, risk of injury, disruption to education etc. These work-related risks are considered unlikely to arise in the context of the above excluded activities children might be employed to undertake.

Sporting activities with a high risk of injury, such as martial arts, gym instruction and horse riding, remain covered by the Child Employment Act as it is important that children participating in those activities are safe.

As is currently the case, children working in their family’s business, including on their family’s farm, may continue to do so without needing a permit/licence provided they are directly supervised. The Bill clarifies that ‘direct supervision’ means direct supervision by the child’s parent, a person who has parental responsibility, or for limited periods, another responsible adult who works in the family business.

The Bill provides stronger protections for children by increasing the minimum age of a person supervising a child in the workplace to 18 years. This requirement will only apply to supervision of a child in the workplace who is under the age of 15 years. Children under 15 are particularly vulnerable in the workplace so requiring their supervision to be provided by an adult adds a further safeguard. The Bill explicitly excludes children under 15 years old participating in formal work experience from the requirement to be covered by a licence as this is regulated under education legislation.

Compliance and Enforcement

Amendments to the Act also increase the effectiveness of the Wage Inspectorate’s compliance and enforcement regime by expanding its suite of regulatory tools and increasing the penalties for contraventions of the Act.

Part 4 of the current Act provides necessary functions and powers to Child Employment Officers to enable them to monitor and enforce compliance with the Act, including powers of entry and information gathering powers. It also creates offences under the Act, provides relevant protections for individuals and enables prosecution of detected breaches in appropriate circumstances. The powers of Child Employment Officers are limited and may currently only be exercised when investigating an application for a permit or determining compliance with the Act.

The Bill substitutes Child Employment Officers with Authorised Officers and provides them with expanded functions and powers aimed at delivering a stronger, more contemporary and responsive enforcement scheme. These include a power to issue compliance notices and infringement notices which will provide the Wage Inspectorate with more options to effectively monitor and enforce compliance with the Act. Currently the only option for the Wage Inspectorate where a breach is detected is prosecution, which is not always an appropriate or viable option, in addition to being costly and adversarial. The new enforcement tools also recognise the Wage Inspectorate’s new regulatory responsibility for the Child Safe Standards.

The Bill increases the penalties for primary offences proportionate to the gravity of the conduct and aligned with other offences under comparable risk-based schemes.

The scheme also provides for a public register of child employment licences, allowing parents and other persons interacting with child employees to assess a given workplace’s compliance.

Benefits of the reforms

There are clear social benefits to children engaging in some form of part-time or casual employment, including gaining important work experience, improved self-confidence and independence and being able to earn their own money. The proposed amendments to the Act balance these benefits with the additional protections needed for this vulnerable cohort in the workplace.

A key benefit of these amendments is creating a clearer, more streamlined system to support the ongoing protection of children from exploitation and harm in the workforce. The system is designed to be risk-based which means the requirements under a licence will be greater where the risks to children are higher. Work that is low risk will have fewer licensing obligations. Whilst there will be some initial burden transitioning to the new system, for both stakeholders and the regulator, this will be offset by the reduction in ongoing administrative requirements and regulatory burden in the future. To ensure that there is no reduction in the level of protection for children in the workplace, there are key oversight and accountability provisions within the scheme, including the roles for nominated officers and employer representatives as well as the fit and proper person test.

The amendments will facilitate greater compliance with the scheme by reducing red tape for business in the longer term and clarifying key definitions of which businesses are covered by the Act. This will be supported by a targeted education campaign about the changes by the Wage Inspectorate.

The amendments also increase the effectiveness and capacity of the Wage Inspectorate, who will now only be required to review and enforce a single licence for each employer rather than potentially thousands of individual permits. In 2018/19 there were over 11,000 permits issued so the move to the licensing system will reduce the administrative burden significantly. The expanded suite of compliance and enforcement tools provides the Wage Inspectorate with additional options to achieve compliance, aligned with contemporary developments in risk-based regulation.

The amendments improve the overall operation of the child employment regulatory scheme, maintain protections for children in the workplace and support businesses to understand and comply with their obligations when employing children.

Commencement date

The licensing provisions of the Bill and the new requirement for supervision during the casting and audition process, as well as the expanded coverage of not-for-profit entities, will commence on 1 July 2023 to allow time for stakeholders to transition to the new licensing scheme and for the Wage Inspectorate to implement the new system. The remainder of the Bill will commence on a day or days to be proclaimed or on the default commencement date of 1 July 2023 for provisions not proclaimed earlier.

I commend this Bill to the House.

Mr ONDARCHIE (Northern Metropolitan) (18:12): I move:

That the debate be adjourned for one week.

Motion agreed to and debate adjourned for one week.