10th Parliament· 154 sittings on record · 30,475 speeches · latest 10 June 2026

The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake

Jathika Jana balawegaya· National List· 11 September 2025 ·Debate: National Audit (Amendment) Bill Second Reading and Supplementary Estimates Debate

Parliamentary Procedure
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Bimal Rathnayake said the Government had accommodated the Opposition by extending an adjournment debate from 30 minutes to two hours, while limiting time on a Bill concerning the removal of privileges for former Presidents. He argued that the Opposition used the time to speak and leave rather than pursue solutions, contrasting this with how his side had handled adjournment motions when in Opposition. He urged Members to use adjournment debates responsibly and improve the quality of parliamentary proceedings.

Verbatim record (translated)

Machine-translated from Sinhala / Tamil / English

¶ 01 Hon. Speaker, we recognize the Opposition’s rights. We extended their adjournment debate time from 30 minutes to two hours yesterday. We also had an important Bill—to remove unnecessary privileges of former Presidents—limited to four hours, because you wanted to speak on farmers’ issues. After we extended to 120 minutes, you spoke and left. We too have moved many adjournment motions while in Opposition and engaged with Ministers until solutions were given. Do not turn adjournments into shows. People now expect more quality from Parliament. Please stop this and act more responsibly.

Provenance

Source
Hansard, Thursday, 11 September 2025 ·No. 1758278142029989 ·English daily/uncorrected Hansard
Page · column
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Permalink
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Cite as: The Hon. Bimal Rathnayake. 10th Parliament, Parliament of Sri Lanka. Hansard, 11 September 2025. No. 1758278142029989. Politick, https://staging.politick.io/lk/speeches/1407