Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Procedure, I present the committee's report entitled Maintenance of the standing and sessional orders, together with the minutes of proceedings.

The inquiry into the maintenance of the standing and sessional orders has become standard practice each parliament. It provides an opportunity for the committee to consider how the standing and sessional orders have operated over the parliament, the functioning of the House and what could be improved.

The report makes five recommendations, including on matters specific to this parliament as well as issues considered in previous Procedure Committee reports.

There were several changes made to the standing orders at the start of this parliament, including the introduction of sessional order 65A, which enables crossbench members to receive the call in accordance with the relative size of the crossbench this parliament. The committee considers that this sessional order outlines a sensible approach that has worked well and has recommended its adoption as a standing order that is updated at the start of each parliament to account for the membership of the House.

Relatedly, given the increase in the number of divisions called with between four and 10 members on one side this parliament, the committee recommends amending standing order 127 from 'four or fewer' to '10 or fewer' members on one side. We think that this change will support a more expeditious and efficient parliament.

Committees play an important role in the work of the parliament. However, the committee heard that some members of parliament are stretched thin over several committees. A member could more meaningfully contribute to their committee work if they served on fewer committees. Accordingly, we have recommended that the House consider reducing the number of committees.

The committee also considered the evolution of the Federation Chamber since it was first introduced 30 years ago. In our view, minor cosmetic changes wouldn't help to enhance the status of the Federation Chamber for members and the public without adding significant additional costs.

Finally, the report recommended revisiting some recommendations from the committee's report A window on the House regarding question time. The committee has drawn on this comprehensive report, tabled in 2021 by the Procedure Committee—including the then chair, the member for Bonner, Mr Ross Vasta MP, and the then deputy chair and member for Oxley, now Speaker, the Hon. Milton Dick MP—and has revisited some recommendations that have not been implemented by the House.

On behalf of the committee I would like to thank members who made a submission and who met with the committee to express their views, experiences and insight on areas for improvement. I'd like to conclude by also thanking the deputy chair, the member for Bonner, and his fellow colleagues, as well as colleagues on my side of the chamber, for their collaborative approach to the consideration of these matters. I commend the report to the House.