4   Presiding Officers

(1)  If a provision of this Act requires or authorises the Presiding Officers to take any action or decide any matter, the provision is taken to require or authorise the Presiding Officers only to take the action jointly or decide the matter jointly.

(2)  If the Presiding Officers were both last elected to Parliament as the endorsed candidates of the same registered party (or registered parties that are coalition parties), any such action or decision may only be taken or decided jointly with a deputy Presiding Officer designated by those Presiding Officers who was last elected to Parliament as the endorsed candidate of another registered party.

(3)  A reference in subsection (2) to a deputy Presiding Officer includes a reference to an assistant Presiding Officer if all eligible deputy Presiding Officers are absent or acting as the Presiding Officer under the Constitution Act 1902.

Note. Sections 22G and 31A of the Constitution Act 1902 provide that during the absence from NSW of the President or the Speaker, the Chair of Committees of the Legislative Council (who is also the Deputy President) or the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly act for the President or the Speaker respectively.