Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That, unless otherwise ordered, the following amendments to the standing orders be adopted to operate for the remainder of the 2008 sittings:

1.

Standing order 34, Figure 2, be amended as follows:

	MONDAY		TUESDAY		WEDNESDAY		THURSDAY
					Prayers		Prayers
				9.00 am		9.00 am
	Prayers				Government Business		Government Business
12 noon
	Government Business		Prayers
2.00 pm	Question Time	2.00 pm	Question Time	2.00 pm	Question Time	2.00 pm	Question Time
approx 3.30 pm	Documents, Ministerial statements	approx 3.30 pm	Documents, Ministerial statements, MPI	approx 3.30 pm	Documents, Ministerial statements, MPI	approx 3.30 pm	Documents, Ministerial statements, MPI
	Government Business	approx 4.20 pm	Government Business	approx 4.20 pm		approx 4.20 pm	Government Business
						4.30 pm	Adjournment Debate
6.30 pm	Divisions and quorums deferred	6.30 pm	Divisions and quorums deferred		Government Business	5.00 pm
				7.30 pm	Adjournment Debate
8.00 pm		8.00 pm		8.00 pm
8.30 pm	Petitions (to 8.40 pm) Committee & delegation reports and private Members’ business	8.30 pm	Adjournment Debate
		9.00 pm
9.30 pm	Adjournment Debate
10.00 pm

2.

Standing order 207 be amended to read:

3.

Standing order 209 be amended to read:

I rise to speak to standing order 34, figure 2, and standing orders 207 and 209. These amendments to standing orders are a continuation of the government’s reforms aimed at making parliament more accountable and more accessible. In establishing the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Petitions upon coming to government, we signalled that we no longer wanted only lip-service paid to the concerns of Australians. We wanted a process to deal with petitions that allowed the ideas and concerns contained within them to be heard and to receive a response. These changes continue that process. They allot time in the parliament so that the newly established petitions committee can report and present petitions to the House. The petitions committee will now be able to report and present petitions to the House for 10 minutes from 8.30 pm on a Monday night. They also formalise the role the committee will play in reporting to the House on responses to petitions received from ministers. The changes do not remove the ability of members to present petitions.

I am pleased to report to the House that this year 44 petitions have been presented, and so far nine of them have received ministerial responses. I can indicate to the House that that figure is now at least 10 because I signed a response just prior to this debate being held. This is compared with the more than 900 which were received in the entire term of the last parliament, of which only two received responses.

The proposed changes are being adopted on a trial basis only and will be reviewed at the end of 2008. They are consistent with a more responsive parliament, they are consistent with a more modern parliament and I commend the changes to the House.

Question agreed to.

I move:

That the standing orders Nos. 1, 192 and 193 be amended to read as follows:

1.

Maximum speaking times (amendment to existing subject, as follows):

Members’ statements in the Main Committee 90 second statements Whole period Each Member (but not a Minister or Parliamentary Secretary) (standing order 192a) 3 minute constituency statements Whole period Each Member (standing order 193)

15 mins 90 seconds 30 mins 3 mins

.

Main Committee order of business

	MONDAY		TUESDAY		WEDNESDAY		THURSDAY
				9.30 am	3 min constituency statements	9.30 am	3 min constituency statements
				approx 10.00 am	Government business and/or committee and delegation reports	approx 10.00 am	Government business and/or committee and delegation reports
						12.30 pm	Adjournment Debate
				approx 1.00 pm		approx 1.00 pm
4.00 pm	If required	4.00 pm	3 min constituency statements	4.00 pm	If required
		If required
approx 6.40 pm		90 sec statements
6.55 pm	Committee & delegation reports and private Members’ business
				approx 7.30 pm
8.30 pm	Grievance debate	approx 8.30 pm
9.30 pm

The meeting times of the Main Committee are fixed by the Deputy Speaker and are subject to change. Adjournment debates can occur on days other than Thursdays by agreement between the Whips.

193.                             Members’ three minute constituency statements

I rise to speak on the amendments to the standing orders. These amendments change the name of members’ statements to ‘constituency statements’ and, importantly, will now allow ministers to make them. I should declare an interest in moving this motion and these changes to the standing orders, because at the moment as a member of the executive I do not have an opportunity to put forward issues of concern to constituents in my electorate. This will change that. It was my privilege on Saturday to visit the home of a lovely couple in Marrickville who celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Those are the sorts of events concerning constituents of members who have had the honour of being appointed to the executive which should not be excluded from representation.

This motion also mandates that the statements should be first in the order of business on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, regardless of the time when the Main Committee commences. The purpose of the statements is to allow members of the House to report on and raise issues of importance to their constituencies. This should extend to all members of the House, as all represent areas that require such attention.

In the last parliament, three-minute statements occurred on 118 occasions, providing 1,105 speaking opportunities or 55 hours of speaking time. This statistic alone proves the effectiveness of this measure in creating opportunities for members to raise matters of importance to their constituencies. As a minister, I now look forward to being able to use these statements to raise issues of importance to my electorate. I would like to single out the Chief Government Whip for his initiative in supporting these changes and the previous changes, which have just been carried by the House. I commend these changes to the House.

Roger Price (Chifley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wanted to make a few brief remarks about these changes to the standing orders. You will recall that when three-minute statements were first foreshadowed in 1997 the then Leader of the House in fact referred to constituency statements. So the current Leader of the House, Mr Albanese, the member for Grayndler, in changing the name back recognises this fact and, in particular, recognises the central importance of all members of the House being given opportunities to speak about issues of concern to their constituencies.

I want to place on record my appreciation to the Leader of the House for supporting this. I should point out that when three-minute members’ statements first started only three speakers were allowed on each side of the House and the debate went for only 18 minutes. It was extended, of course, to half an hour. This motion by the Leader of the House completes the circle.

Originally, three-minute statements were not preserved by the interruption of divisions. If a member was making a three-minute statement or was due to speak next, they lost their opportunity—the Main Committee did not take up where it left off. This was to the considerable detriment of those members who wanted to utilise the facility. It is true to say that this was rectified in 2006 for all the scheduled meetings of the House—that is, on Wednesday and Thursday. Rather than moving a separate motion in the House when there are extra sittings of the Main Committee, the Leader of the House now has automatically provided for constituency statements and also the fact that, if there are interruptions by divisions in the House, we will take up where we left off. The term ‘constituency statement’ is not defined in the standing order. It will be up to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and members of the Speaker’s panel to determine, by way of precedent, whether there should be any confining of statements made on that speaking opportunity.

The Leader of the House also mentioned that, in the last parliament, there were 118 occasions providing a total of 1,105 speaking opportunities for members to make three-minute statements. This shows how members have responded very positively to the speaking opportunity. As with other changes to the standing orders, I would expect the member for Parramatta, who is chair of the Procedure Committee, would review that. Hopefully, the review may even encompass whether or not there is a case to be made for more constituency statements now that both parliamentary secretaries and ministers have that opportunity to speak.

I strongly support this change and I commend the Leader of the House, who has always sought, in his short time as Leader of the House, to provide more opportunities for members of the House.

Question agreed to.