"I’ve been pretty patient for three years and seen the way parliament runs as a newbie and myself, I think parliament has been degraded by people in this place, by the opposition but by the person who runs it the most, the position of speaker." Mr Smith cut in, and ruled that Mr Shaw’s comments were out of order. Mr Shaw then hit back: "I have no confidence in the speaker in his position, at this particular time". The comments mean that a majority of MPs in the lower house all certainly no longer have confidence in Mr Smith’s ability control the parliament. Manager of Government Business Louise Asher denied that Mr Smith’s position as speaker was untenable, but conceded it was clear the two men did not get on.

‘‘My private conversations with Mr Shaw are private conversations with Mr Shaw but I think it’s probably apparent to the world – it’s certainly apparent today – that Mr Shaw and the speaker are certainly not the best of friends,’’ Ms Asher said. The Independent Frankston MP made the explosive comments when he voted with the Opposition to defeat the government’s business program, which sets out the Government’s legislative agenda for the week. That means there will be no mechanism to cut off debate for government legislation. But manager of Opposition Business Jacinta Allan called the situation unprecedented, claiming Mr Smith’s position was untenable because he no longer had the confidence of a majority of the lower house. Ms Allan also revealed Mr Shaw’s public declaration of no confidence had been part of a coordinated assault on Mr Smith.

‘‘He did make it clear to the opposition that he had come to share our concerns,’’ Ms Allan said. ‘‘It is an incredibly grave matter that is before parliament at the moment that the speaker of the parliament does not have the confidence of the majority of members of the parliament.’’ There were seven bills on the government’s business program and Mr Shaw said MPs wanted to go home early and see their family. "Who doesn’t want to go home early after being in this joint until 11 o'clock at night when you have the member for Gippsland East and the member for Murray Valley, three hours or so to get home. People want to see their family." Only a few weeks earlier, Mr Smith came out in support of Mr Shaw after the Frankston MP was involved in an altercation with protesters on the steps of Parliament House.