Sturt MP James Stevens asleep during crucial vote in Religious Discrimination Bill

Sturt MP James Stevens says people behind the flurry of rumours about why he slept through a key vote are being ridiculous.

Rising Liberal star James Stevens has struggled to explain how he fell asleep during a crucial vote on Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s flagship Religious Discrimination Bill as his Coalition colleagues banged on his office door and urgently called security.

Witnesses told The Advertiser Mr Stevens was found sleeping on his office floor and had to be roused – but he insisted he was just dozing on his couch and no force was required to wake him up.

The significant peril the Sturt MP posed to the federal government by falling asleep on the job marked the start of a political headache for Mr Morrison, who will now struggle to fulfil a key election promise.

While Mr Stevens slept at 3.30am on Thursday, the government narrowly won a vote 62-61 to shoot down major amendments lodged by Labor MP Mark Dreyfus that would have significantly altered the Bill. Mr Morrison had texted MPs multiple times from shortly after 2am urging them to stay in the chamber.

Noticing he was absent from the chamber, chief government Whip Bert van Manen and another Liberal MP were tasked with finding Mr Stevens.

Liberal MP James Stevens during Question Time in the House of Representatives on Thursday afternoon. In the early hours of the morning, he missed a crucial vote while asleep in his office. Picture: NCA Newswire/Gary Ramage

They were frantically banging on his office door and were forced to call Parliament House’s security team to gain access to his office.

Mr Stevens said he had missed a call on his phone.

Liberal sources told The Advertiser Mr Stevens, who took over Christopher Pyne’s prized Sturt electorate, needed help just to walk out of his office, with one arm slumped over a colleague’s shoulder.

It sparked a flurry of rumours throughout the halls of Parliament House, but Mr Stevens said all were unfounded and he was just exhausted after rising at 5.30am the morning before.

“I’m just a human being who dozed off in my office,” Mr Stevens told The Advertiser. “Unfortunately and regretfully, I missed a vote in the (lower) house and I take responsibility for that.

“It was a mistake. It had been a long day, I had been up for about 23 hours.”

Mr Stevens said it was the first time he missed a vote, but there was “no excuse”.

“People trying to claim I soiled myself are being ridiculous. It patently did not happen,” he said.

“I came back to my office just for a bit of a break from the chamber and, unfortunately, that led to me missing a vote, which I do regret.”

Hours before he explicitly admitted to The Advertiser he was actually asleep, Mr Stevens tried to explain that he left the chamber at 3.15am and simply did not realise he was required for the vote.

“There were quite a few amendments that were coming from (Mayo MP) Rebekha Sharkie and the Greens … and some of them Labor weren’t supporting,” Mr Stevens said.

Mr Stevens insisted he was just sleeping on his couch. Picture: NCA Newswire/Gary Ramage

Mr Stevens failed to mention he was asleep when The Advertiser initially asked why he missed the vote.

His absence infuriated his Liberal colleagues, with one source remarking it was “disrespectful”.

As debate on the Religious Discrimination Bill dragged on into the small hours of the morning, Mr Morrison and Mr van Manen repeatedly urged MPs to remain in the chamber.

In a damaging night for Mr Morrison, Labor successfully passed several amendments to the Bill, and five Liberal MPs crossed the floor to support Ms Sharkie’s proposal to protect gay and transgender students from being expelled by religious schools.

The government’s woes worsened at noon on Thursday, when the Senate put the Bill on ice.

There are only two Senate sitting days left in March when the Bill could potentially pass, making it unlikely Mr Morrison will be able to fulfil his key election promise.

The Australian revealed Mr Morrison was rolled by his cabinet after presenting a plan to horse-trade for votes on the Bill.

The plan involved putting a bill for a federal anti-corruption watchdog on the notice paper for debate in an attempt to win the votes of independent MP Helen Haines and Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer.

Ms Sharkie’s amendment prompted Attorney-General Michaelia Cash to pen a letter to the Mayo MP, raising concerns it would leave students open to discrimination on the basis of sex, breastfeeding or intersex status.

Meanwhile, maverick SA Liberal senator Alex Antic, who has sat out of all Senate business this week over a state jab mandate protest, will vote in favour of the Bill, which likely will not be debated until after this year’s election.

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