Constitution Act 1902

Subject to section 31 (3), the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly—

acts as the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly when the Speaker is unavailable, and

when so acting, has and may exercise and perform all the powers, authorities, duties and functions of the Speaker.

For the purposes of this section, the Speaker is unavailable if there is a vacancy in the office of the Speaker or if the Speaker is absent from the State or otherwise unavailable to exercise and perform the powers, authorities, duties and functions of the Speaker.

Without limiting the generality of this section, the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, while acting as the Speaker under this section, is taken to be the Speaker for the purposes of section 76 (3) of the Electoral Act 2017.