Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Let us look for a moment at the proposal before the Senate. In brief, it is that the number of committees be reduced. But it is also that the government gets the power to determine all that happens in those committees. It does that because it takes four of the votes. It apportions three to the Labor opposition and one to the crossbench and then it gives the chair a casting vote. What is more, under the standing order, which has not changed, a committee can delegate its powers in part or in whole to investigate a matter to three members of that committee. So, if the government did not like the way the committee was going, it would be able to give itself total power through that domination it has in the committees, and delegate an investigation to a subcommittee made up of government people only.