Alex White (Labour)

Are Senator O'Toole and the rest of us wasting our breath asking the Leader to arrange a debate on the economy? We keep doing so but, as a child might say, "It keeps not happening." Is there any point in our seeking it? Will the Leader address this, thus saving ourselves the trouble on the Order of Business of seeking a debate on the economy, about which everybody is talking? I have just come from addressing a group of school students on the south side of the city. They all want to talk about the economy and the recession and what Governments and politicians are doing about it, yet we cannot have a debate thereon in the House. We were supposed to have a rolling debate. What is a rolling debate? In any event, it is what we were promised two or three weeks ago.