Annisette-George rejects comparison with Mark casting vote

For­mer House Speak­er Bridgid An­nisette-George has re­ject­ed at­tempts to use her cast­ing votes in Par­lia­ment in 2017 as prece­dent for Sen­ate Pres­i­dent Wade Mark’s de­cid­ing vote on the Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions Bill, ar­gu­ing that none of her votes de­ter­mined the fate of sub­stan­tive leg­is­la­tion.

In a de­tailed re­sponse to the con­tro­ver­sy, An­nisette-George said there was a “crit­i­cal dis­tinc­tion” be­tween the cir­cum­stances in which she ex­er­cised cast­ing votes as Speak­er and Mark’s de­ci­sion last Thurs­day to break a 15-15 Sen­ate tie and se­cure pas­sage of the con­tentious Bill.

Full coverageWade Mark Passes Special Operations Bill With Casting Vote, Sparking Parliamentary Debate30 reports

“What a STRETCH to state that the prece­dent for the breach of the Deni­son Prin­ci­ple by the Sen­ate Pres­i­dent on the Spe­cial Op­er­a­tions Bill was set in 2017 by the then Speak­er of the House!!!!” An­nisette-George wrote in her re­sponse dat­ed Sep­tem­ber 28.