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

I move:

That standing order nos. 215, 216 and 222 be amended, as follows:

215 General purpose standing committees

(a) The following general purpose standing committees shall be appointed:

(i) Standing Committee on Agriculture;

(ii )Standing Committee on Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water;

(iii) Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts;

(iv) Standing Committee on Economics;

(v) Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training;

(vi) Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport;

(vii) Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Resources;

(viii) Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport; and

(ix) Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs.

(b) A committee appointed under paragraph (a) may inquire into and report on any matter referred to it by either the House or a Minister, including any pre-legislation proposal, bill, motion, petition, vote or expenditure, other financial matter, report or document.

(c) A committee may make any inquiry it wishes to make into annual reports of government departments and authorities and reports of the Auditor-General presented to the House. The following qualifications shall apply to these inquiries:

(i) Reports shall stand referred to committees under a schedule presented by the Speaker to record the areas of responsibility of each committee.

(ii) The Speaker shall determine any question about responsibility for a report or part of a report.

(iii) The period during which an inquiry into an annual report may be started by a committee shall end on the day the next annual report of the department or authority is presented to the House.

(iv) If a committee intends to inquire into all or part of a report of the Auditor-General, the committee must notify the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit of its intention, in writing.

(d) Each committee appointed under paragraph (a) shall consist of nine members (five government Members, three opposition Members and one crossbench Member), except for the Standing Committee on Economics, the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training and the Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport, which shall consist of ten members (six government Members, three opposition Members and one crossbench Member). Each committee may have its membership supplemented by up to four members for a particular inquiry, with a maximum of two extra government and two extra opposition or crossbench Members. Supplementary members shall have the same participatory rights as other members, but may not vote.

216 Committee of Privileges and Members' Interests

(a) A Committee of Privileges and Members' Interests shall be appointed to:

(i) inquire into and report on complaints of breach of privilege or contempt which may be referred to it by the House under standing order 51 or by the Speaker under standing order 52, or any other related matter referred to it by or in accordance with a resolution of the House;

(ii) inquire into and report on the arrangements made for the compilation, maintenance and accessibility of a Register of Members' Interests;

(iii) consider proposals by Members and others on the form and content of the Register of Members' Interests;

(iv) consider specific complaints about registering or declaring interests;

(v) consider possible changes to any code of conduct adopted by the House; and

(vi) consider whether specified persons (other than Members) ought to be required to register and declare their interests.

(b) The committee shall consist of 13 members: the Leader of the House or his or her nominee, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition or his or her nominee and 11 other members (six government Members, four opposition Members and one crossbench Member). When the Opposition is composed of two parties, the non-government Members shall consist of at least one member of the smaller opposition party.

(c) The committee may call for witnesses and documents, but when considering a matter concerning the registration or declaration of Members' interests it must not exercise that power or undertake an investigation of a person's private interests unless the action is approved by at least seven members of the committee other than the Chair.

(d) The committee may report when it sees fit, and must report to the House on its operations in connection with the registration and declaration of Members' interests during the year as soon as possible after 31 December each year.

222 Selection Committee

(a) A Selection Committee shall be appointed to:

(i) arrange the timetable and order of committee and delegation business and private Members' business for each sitting Monday in accordance with standing orders 39 to 41;

(ii) select private Members' notices and other items of private Members' and committee and delegation business for referral to the Federation Chamber, or for return to the House; and

(iii) select bills that the committee regards as controversial or as requiring further consultation or debate for referral to the relevant standing or joint committee in accordance with standing order 143.

(b) The committee shall consist of 14 members: the Speaker, or in the absence of the Speaker the Deputy Speaker, the Chief Government Whip or his or her nominee, the Chief Opposition Whip or his or her nominee, six government Members, three opposition Members and two crossbench Members. The Speaker shall be the Chair of the committee. A quorum shall be three members of the committee.

(c) For committee and delegation business and private Members' business, the committee may determine the order of consideration of the matters, and the times allotted for debate on each item and for each Member speaking.

(d) In relation to committee and delegation business and private Members' business the committee must report its determinations to the House in time for its decisions to be published on the Notice Paper of the sitting Thursday before the Monday being considered. In relation to bills the committee must report its determinations as soon as practical in respect of each bill or each group of bills.

(e) Reports of the committee under paragraph (d) shall be treated as having been adopted when they are presented. Reports shall be published in Hansard.

(f) A referral by determination of the Selection Committee pursuant to paragraph (a)(ii) or (a)(iii), once the determination has been reported to the House, is deemed to be a referral by the House.

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I can advise the House that, broadly, with one or two issues that we wish to identify, the opposition is in support of these changes to standing committees, and we have certainly been working with the government and with the crossbench on these changes, and one of the consequences of them is to provide some greater roles for the crossbench in the committee process. I do want to note two specific issues, one of which is that there is no longer to be any reference to 'cities' in the title of the standing committee on infrastructure, so 'cities' has disappeared from the title of this committee and, indeed, from the minister's title. It does raise the question of the level of commitment of this government to the cities agenda. Our government had a very strong agenda when it came to cities, but we seem to be moving away from a commitment to cities policy. So I do note that we no longer have a minister for cities. We no longer seem to have a committee that has any investigation in relation to cities. The opposition does note that with concern.

What we also note with concern is that two committees have been abolished, and one of those is the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia. That is pretty significant. Our government had a very strong commitment to northern Australia, and this government has failed to re-establish the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia. That is a matter of concern to the Liberal Party and to the National Party, and I believe that the Leader of the Nationals wishes to speak about that.

David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I find it quite extraordinary that one of the first acts of this new government in this new parliament is to abolish the Joint Standing Committee on Northern Australia, disenfranchising 1.3 million Australians. Their voice to this parliament is being removed through a bipartisan committee that was about the growth of northern Australia, where we have an extra $2 billion investment pipeline through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund, taking it to a $7 billion investment pipeline, because there is investment confidence in northern Australia. But the investment signals on northern Australia to take away from this government today are that they aren't interested in them anymore. Every Australian should have the opportunity to have their voice heard in this parliament through important committee work, and this government, which trumpeted that it would govern for every Australian, has now turned its back on 1.3 million Australians. But, more importantly, they have turned their backs on over 200,000 First Nations people who have the opportunity to develop their country, to develop northern Australia, to take northern Australia to a level we have not seen before. So I say to those opposite: you have to govern for every Australian. The opportunity not just for northern Australia but for this great country is in the north. You should remember that, and you should engage that in a constructive way.

Milton Dick (Oxley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I give the call to the Leader of the House.

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

On right of reply, and taking the issues that have just been raised into account, I draw members' attention to the fact that the regional Australian issues are still able to be dealt with through the appropriate committee. The Northern Australian Committee for the last parliament only dealt with First Nations issues and, as the members are aware, there are negotiations happening with the Senate right now in setting up a specific First Nations joint committee that will be able to deal with all of those issues.

Question agreed to.