Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That:

(1) a joint select committee, to be known as the Joint Select Committee on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice Referendum, be appointed to inquire into and report on the provisions of the bill introduced by the Government to be submitted to a referendum on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice;

(2) the committee consist of 13 members, four members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Government Whip or Whips, two Members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Opposition Whip or Whips, one Member of the House of Representatives nominated by any minority group or independent Member, three Senators to be nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate, two Senators to be nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and one Senator to be nominated by the Leader of the Australian Greens in the Senate;

(3) every nomination of a member be notified in writing to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives;

(4) in the event that a House is not sitting and is not expected to meet for at least two weeks, the relevant whip in the House of Representatives, the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, minority groups or independent Senators may nominate any appointment or discharge of a member of the committee in writing to the relevant Presiding Officer. The change in membership shall take effect from the time the Presiding Officer received the written nomination. At the next sitting, the Presiding Officer shall report the change to the relevant House and the House shall resolve that membership of the committee;

(5) the persons appointed for the time being to serve on the committee shall constitute the committee notwithstanding any failure by the Senate or the House of Representatives to appoint the full number of Senators or Members referred to in this resolution;

(6) the members of the committee hold office as a joint select committee until presentation of the committee's report;

(7) the committee present its report no later than 15 May 2023;

(8) the committee elect a Government member as its chair;

(9) the committee elect a non-Government member as its deputy chair to act as chair of the committee at any time when the chair is not present at a meeting of the committee;

(10) at any time when the chair and deputy chair are not present at a meeting of the committee, the members present shall elect another member to act as chair at that meeting;

(11) the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, shall have a deliberative vote and, in the event votes are equally divided, a casting vote;

(12) three members of the committee constitute a quorum of the committee, provided that in a deliberative meeting the quorum shall include one Government member of either House and one non-Government member of either House;

(13) the committee have power to appoint subcommittees, consisting of three or more of its members, and to refer to any subcommittee any matter which the committee is empowered to examine;

(14) the committee appoint the chair of each subcommittee who shall have a deliberative vote but no casting vote, and at any time when the chair of a subcommittee is not present at a meeting of the subcommittee, the members of the subcommittee present shall elect another member of that subcommittee to act as chair at that meeting;

(15) the quorum of a subcommittee be two members of that subcommittee provided that in a deliberative meeting the quorum shall include one Government member of either House and one non-Government member of either House;

(16) members of the committee who are not members of a subcommittee may participate in the proceedings of that subcommittee but shall not vote, move any motion or be counted for the purpose of a quorum;

(17) the committee or any subcommittee has power to:

(a) call for witnesses to attend and for documents to be produced;

(b) conduct proceedings at any place it sees fit;

(c) sit in public or in private;

(d) report from time to time; and

(e) adjourn from time to time and to sit during any adjournment of the Senate or the House of Representatives; and

(18) a message be sent to the Senate acquainting it of this resolution and requesting that it concur and take action accordingly.

Question agreed to.

See this speech in context