Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for Senator Marshall to incorporate that document. I believe that concludes this matter. We will move on.

The document read as follows—

OBJECTION TO A DECISION OR RULING OF THE CHAIR – BACKGROUND NOTE

Standing order 198 provides a method for dealing with an objection to a ruling or decision of the President (or whoever is in the Chair):

198 Objection to ruling

(1) If an objection is taken to a ruling or decision of the President, such objection must be taken at once and in writing, and a motion moved that the Senate dissent from the President's ruling.

(2) Debate on that motion shall be adjourned to the next sitting day, unless the Senate decides on motion, without debate, that the question requires immediate determination.

On 25 June 2015, Senator Macdonald lodged an objection to a decision by the Deputy President, Senator Marshall, that there was no point of order in relation to a motion moved by Senator Lazarus to refer a matter to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee. Senator Macdonald argued that the reference was not relevant to the committee and should therefore be ruled out of order. Senator Marshall dismissed the point of order both before and after the Senate voted to agree to the reference.

Following the President's report to the Senate that a written objection had been lodged, Senator Macdonald moved the dissent motion and the President informed the Senate that the matter would be dealt with on the next day of sitting unless any senator moved that the question required immediate determination. No such motion was moved.

The matter is now on the Notice Paper for the next day of sitting in the following terms:

DISSENT FROM DECISION

Order of the Day

*1 Objection to decision of the Deputy President

Consideration of the motion moved by Senator Macdonald―That the decision of the Deputy President on 25 June 2015 (to dismiss Senator Macdonald's point of order) be dissented from―(pursuant to standing order 198, adjourned, 25 June 2015).

Extracts from the Hansard are attached. [See Senate Debates, 25 June 2015, pp.43-44, 61.

http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber/hansards/99c8aee1-aa1b-48da-8cdc-593fed2e4d62/0000%22]

Rules relating to notices of motion and references to legislative and general purpose standing committees

Relevant rules are as follows:

Discussion

Taking into account the rules for notices and references to legislative and general purpose standing committees, there was no basis for the President to have ruled the notice out of order at the time it was given and it was therefore entered on the Notice Paper. It is not the role of the President or the Clerk to make judgements about notices of motion beyond those that the standing orders authorise or require them to make.

Equally, there was no basis for the Deputy President, at Discovery of Formal Business, to rule out of order a motion to be moved pursuant to a notice that had been entered on the Notice Paper in accordance with the rules of the Senate.

Any senator may prevent a notice of motion being dealt with as a formal motion by objecting to that course of action. As the record shows, the Deputy President asked whether there was any objection to the motion being taken as a formal motion and there was not. Senator Macdonald's point of order did not refer to any known rule of the Senate and may well have been characterised as a debating point. It was dealt with accordingly.

In any case, the Senate decided the matter by agreeing to the reference. The decision was uncontested.

It is arguable that the Senate's decision to agree to the reference effectively also determines the question of dissent because a motion of dissent is essentially an appeal by the senator to the Senate from the decision of the Chair. The Senate has thus endorsed the decision of the Chair not to impede the vote by ruling a motion out of order.

The Senate has on numerous occasions referred matters to committees that were contested on the basis that the reference should have gone to another committee. All decisions as to such referrals are entirely a matter for the Senate, as are any decisions to vary, suspend or amend standing orders or to take a different path.

Options

There are several ways of dealing with a dissent motion:

Notice Paper

Notice Paper

A successful dissent motion is not necessarily interpreted as criticism of the Chair, simply an appeal from his or her decision or ruling.

On a motion of dissent from a Chair's ruling, the greatest latitude of discussion is allowed. If Senator Macdonald's motion is debated, it may therefore be expected that the tribulations of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee will be canvassed.

It is accepted practice for the President to participate in the discussion in order to clarify the ruling or respond to points which have been made. The same would apply to the participation of the Deputy President in discussion of dissent from his or her ruling.

Because of its capacity to undermine the Chair and disrupt business, the procedure for dissent is not a universal feature of parliaments (and does not appear in the United Kingdom, India and Canada, for example). However, it was an original standing order of the Senate based on South Australian practice.

Clerk's Office 10 August 2015