Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker Coulton—and can I congratulate you again on your appointment as Deputy Speaker. This is the first time I have seen you in the chair, and you suit it very well.

I move the motion relating to proposed amendments to the standing orders in the terms in which it appears on the Notice Paper. In order to save time, because I know that we have maiden speeches ahead and I do not want them to be curtailed at all, I will not speak to those, but I will point out to the House that they are agreed between us and the opposition and the crossbenchers. They are non-controversial but they will improve the House.

We will continue to talk to the opposition and the crossbenchers about other changes to the standing orders, which I think would be welcomed by all parties, particularly around the voting times for divisions and quorums et cetera, which we may also deal with in this sitting week. Then we will return on 12 September and propose other standing order amendments. If the opposition has amendments to those standing orders, that will be the opportunity to put them, and we will debate them.

I did tell the Manager of Opposition Business in the House in good faith, despite this morning's extraordinary behaviour, that if the government does not propose any other changes to standing orders I would still allow a debate on the opposition's proposals for standing order changes. I assume that the good faith that I am showing will be repaid by the opposition and by the crossbenchers. With that, I move:

That standing orders 1, 29, 34, 229 and 247 be amended as follows:

1    Maximum speaking times

The maximum time limits that apply to debates, speeches and statements are as follows.

29    Set meeting and adjournment times

(a) The House shall meet each year in accordance with the program of sittings for that year agreed to by the House, unless otherwise ordered and subject to standing order 30.

(b) When the House is sitting it shall meet and adjourn at the following times, subject to standing orders 30, 31 and 32:

34    Order of business

The order of business to be followed by the House is shown in figure 2.

Figure 2. House order of business

229    Appointment of committee members

(a) Members shall be appointed to or discharged from a committee by motion moved on notice.

(b) Special arrangements are required for a change in membership when the House is not sitting and is not expected to meet for at least two weeks. The relevant whip must nominate any appointment or discharge of a member of a committee in writing to the Speaker. The change in membership shall take effect from the time the Speaker receives the written nomination. At the next sitting, the Speaker shall report the change to the House and the House shall resolve the membership of the committee.

(c) If a committee is considering a bill referred under standing order 143, one or more members of the committee may be replaced by other Members by motion moved on notice. This does not affect the ability of a general purpose standing committee to have its membership supplemented under standing order 215(d).

(d) Any Member appointed as a Minister immediately ceases to be a member of all committees.

247    Report presented

(a) A member of the committee must present the report of the committee together with the minutes of proceedings, to the House or Federation Chamber.

(b) When a report is presented, it may be ordered to be made a Parliamentary Paper with or without the documents accompanying it.

(c) Special arrangements are required for times when the House is not sitting and a committee has completed a report of an inquiry. The committee may send the report to the Speaker, or to the Deputy Speaker if the Speaker is unavailable. When the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker receives the report:

  (i) the report may be published; and

(ii) he or she may give directions for the printing and circulation of the report.

The committee must then present the report to the House or Federation Chamber as soon as possible.

Question agreed to.