Stephen Parry (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move an amendment to the resolution contained in message No. 523:

At the end of the motion, add “, subject to the following modification: Omit paragraph (2) and substitute:

(2)

That the committee can consist of 12 Members. 4 Members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Government Whip or Whips, 2 Members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Opposition Whip or Whips, and one Member from the Independent Members, 2 Senators to be nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate and 2 Senators to be nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and one Senator to be nominated by any minority group or groups or Independent Senator or Independent Senators.”

The amendment has been circulated in the chamber, and the whips were advised of it yesterday. In essence, the amendment goes to the composition of the senators on the committee. Under this resolution, the committee currently comprises 12 members. There are four government members from the House of Representatives, two opposition members from the House of Representatives and one independent member from the House of Representatives, totalling seven. The Senate has an allocation of three government senators, one opposition senator and/or one crossbench senator. I will read out the particular clause, clause 2. The tail end of that clause indicates:

… 2 senators to be nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate, 2 Senators to be nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and one Senator to be nominated by any minority group or groups or Independent Senator or Independent Senators.

So, in effect, that is restricting the coalition to one senator and giving the crossbenches one senator.

The composition of the Senate does not reflect that that is how it should be represented. In essence, with this motion, the government get seven representatives, the opposition get three and the crossbenches of both houses get two. I will leave the House of Representatives issue to the House of Representatives. In relation to the Senate, if we have a look at a scale for senators in this place, the government would be allocated 2.11 senators, which would be rounded down to two; the coalition would be entitled to 2.43 senators, which would be rounded down to two—which is quite generous, but that is the way we have to do these figures when we have the numbers we have—the Greens would have 6.58 per cent, or 0.33 of a senator; and the crossbenches, Senator Fielding and Senator Xenophon, would have 0.13 of a senator, or 2.63 per cent.

In essence, we have always had the provision of two government, two opposition and one crossbench senator. The opposition has usually been disadvantaged, but we have been happy with that scenario. To have three government senators and two from the entire opposition and crossbenches, which actually represent the majority of this place, is incorrect. The amendment clearly addresses that issue of having two government, two opposition and one crossbench senator. I commend the amendment to the Senate.