Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have received a message from the Senate transmitting a resolution relating to the establishment of a Joint Select Committee on Implementation of the National Redress Scheme. The Senate requests the concurrence of the House in the resolution. Given the length of the resolution, I do not intend to read it to the House. The terms will be incorporated in the Votes and Proceedings and incorporated in Hansard.

The resolution read as follows—

(1) That a joint select committee, to be known as the Joint Select Committee on Implementation of the National Redress Scheme, be established to inquire into and report on:

(a) the Australian Government policy, program and legal response to the redress related recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, including the establishment and operation of the Commonwealth Redress Scheme and ongoing support of survivors; and

(b) any matter in relation to the Royal Commission's redress related recommendations referred to the committee by a resolution of either House of the Parliament;

(2) That the committee present its final report on the last sitting day in May 2022;

(3) That the committee consist of 8 members—4 senators, and 4 members of the House of Representatives, as follows:

(a) 2 members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Government Whip or Whips;

(b) 2 members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Opposition Whip or Whips;

(c) 1 senator to be nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate;

(d) 1 senator to be nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate;

(e) 1 senator to be nominated by the Leader of the Australian Greens; and

(f) 1 senator to be nominated by any minority party or independent senator;

(4) That:

(a) participating members may be appointed to the committee on the nomination of the Government Whip in the House of Representatives, the Opposition Whip in the House of Representatives, the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate or any minority party or independent senator or member of the House of Representatives; and

(b) participating members may participate in hearings of evidence and deliberations of the committee, and have all the rights of members of the committee, but may not vote on any questions before the committee;

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

(6) That the members of the committee hold office as a joint select committee until the House of Representatives is dissolved or expires by effluxion of time;

(7) That the committee may proceed to the dispatch of business notwithstanding that all members have not been duly nominated and appointed and notwithstanding any vacancy;

(8) That the committee elect as chair a member or senator nominated by the Opposition;

(9) That the committee elect as deputy chair a member or senator nominated by the Leader of the Australian Greens;

(10) That, in the event of an equally divided vote, the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, have a casting vote;

(11) That the deputy chair shall act as chair of the committee at any time when the chair is not present at a meeting of the committee, and 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;

(12) That the committee have power to appoint subcommittees consisting of 3 or more of its members, and to refer to any such subcommittee any of the matters which the committee is empowered to examine;

(13) That the committee, and any subcommittee, have power to send for and examine persons and documents, to move from place to place, to sit in public or in private, notwithstanding any prorogation of the Parliament and have leave to report from time to time its proceedings and the evidence taken and such interim recommendations as it may deem fit;

(14) That the committee be provided with all necessary staff, facilities and resources and be empowered to appoint persons with specialist knowledge for the purposes of the committee with the approval of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives;

(15) That the committee be empowered to print from day to day such papers and evidence as may be ordered by it, and a daily Hansard be published of such proceedings as take place in public;

(16) That the committee have power to adjourn from time to time and to sit during any adjournment of the Senate and the House of Representatives;

(17) That the provisions of this resolution, so far as they are inconsistent with the standing orders, have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the standing orders; and

(18) That the committee have access to all evidence and documents of the former Joint Select Committee on oversight of the implementation of redress related recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse.

Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Cabinet) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the message be considered immediately.

Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was a turning point for this country and a very significant part of the parliament's response to what was the establishment of a national redress scheme. It is incredibly important that the implementation of the Redress Scheme is carefully scrutinised. Already, many serious concerns have been brought to light about its operation.

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Barton has the call.

Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is hard to hear myself. Mr Deputy Speaker Vasta, can we ask people to be quiet?

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Barton has the call.

Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much. Already many serious concerns have been brought to light about its operation—about delays, about administrative processes for calculating payments, about the way people are being treated when they contact the scheme and about the efforts being taken to get institutions to sign up.

Question agreed to.

Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Cabinet) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the resolution of the Senate be agreed to with the incorporated amendments as follows—

(1) That a joint select committee, to be known as the Joint Select Committee on Implementation of the National Redress Scheme, be established to inquire into and report on:

(a) the Australian Government policy, program and legal response to the redress related recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, including the establishment and operation of the Commonwealth Redress Scheme and ongoing support of survivors; and

(b) any matter in relation to the Royal Commission's redress related recommendations referred to the committee by a resolution of either House of the Parliament.

(2) That the committee present its final report on the last sitting day in May 2022.

(3) That the committee consist of 11 members—5 senators, and 6 members of the House of Representatives, as follows:

(a) 4 members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Government Whip or Whips;

(b) 2 members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Opposition Whip or Whips;

(c) 2 senators to be nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate;

(d) 1 senator to be nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate;

(e) 1 senator to be nominated by the Leader of the Australian Greens; and

(f) 1 senator to be nominated by any minority party or independent senator.

(4) That:

(a) participating members may be appointed to the committee on the nomination of the Government Whip in the House of Representatives, the Opposition Whip in the House of Representatives, the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate or any minority party or independent senator or member of the House of Representatives; and

(b) participating members may participate in hearings of evidence and deliberations of the committee, and have all the rights of members of the committee, but may not vote on any questions before the committee.

(5) That every nomination of a member of the committee be notified in writing to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

(6) That the members of the committee hold office as a joint select committee until the House of Representatives is dissolved or expires by effluxion of time.

(7) That the committee may proceed to the dispatch of business notwithstanding that all members have not been duly nominated and appointed and notwithstanding any vacancy.

(8) That the committee elect as chair a Government member or senator.

(9) That the committee elect as deputy chair an Opposition, minor party or independent member or senator.

(10) That, in the event of an equally divided vote, the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, have a casting vote.

(11) That 5 members of the committee constitute a quorum of the committee provided that in a deliberative meeting the quorum shall include 1 Government member of either House and 1 non-Government member of either House.

(12) That the deputy chair shall act as chair of the committee at any time when the chair is not present at a meeting of the committee, and 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.

(13) That the committee:

(a) have power to appoint subcommittees consisting of 3 or more of its members, and to refer to any such subcommittee any of the matters which the committee is empowered to examine; and

(b) appoint the chair of each subcommittee who shall have a casting vote only.

(14) That 2 members of a subcommittee constitute the quorum of that subcommittee, provided that in a deliberative meeting the quorum shall include 1 Government member of either House and 1 non-Government member of either House.

(15) That the committee, and any subcommittee, have power to send for and examine persons and documents, to move from place to place, to sit in public or in private, notwithstanding any prorogation of the Parliament and have leave to report from time to time its proceedings and the evidence taken and such interim recommendations as it may deem fit.

(16) That the committee be provided with all necessary staff, facilities and resources and be empowered to appoint persons with specialist knowledge for the purposes of the committee with the approval of the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

(17) That the committee be empowered to print from day to day such papers and evidence as may be ordered by it, and a daily Hansard be published of such proceedings as take place in public.

(18) That the committee have power to adjourn from time to time and to sit during any adjournment of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

(19) That the provisions of this resolution, so far as they are inconsistent with the standing orders, have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the standing orders.

(20) That the committee have access to all evidence and documents of the former Joint Select Committee on oversight of the implementation of redress related recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Abuse.

Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will not reread what I have already said but go on from where I finished up. In the last parliament, Senator Derryn Hinch was the chair of an important committee looking at the implementation of the scheme. This committee was not dominated by the government or by the opposition. It worked collaboratively across the parliament to make recommendations about how the redress scheme could be improved. This is what Labor sought to re-establish by moving this motion in the Senate.

We're disappointed that the government has amended the motion to give the government the chair and the numbers on the committee. The redress scheme hardly should be put into that political sphere. In the case of the redress scheme, it should not be government members and senators alone who have control of scrutiny. Many survivors of institutional child sexual abuse are rightly very distrustful of institutions, which is why Labor proposed a structure for the committee that would not give the government—or the opposition, for that matter—control. For this reason Labor does not support the changes proposed by the government. However, we will not oppose the establishment of a joint select committee; it is simply too important. Labor will work on the committee to hold the government to account.

Ben Morton (Tangney, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Cabinet) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the opposition for their support for the amendments from the Senate as circulated and for working with the government in a bipartisan and cooperative way on this motion.

Question agreed to.