Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 544 standing in my name for today, relating to the establishment of a Select Committee on the Future of Work and Workers, in the terms circulated in the chamber.

Leave granted.

I move the motion as amended:

(1) That a select committee, to be known as the Select Committee on the Future of Work and Workers, be established to inquire into and report on the impact of technological and other change on the future of work and workers in Australia, with particular reference to:

(a) the future earnings, job security, employment status and working patterns of Australians;

(b) the different impact of that change on Australians, particularly on regional Australians, depending on their demographic and geographic characteristics;

(c) the wider effects of that change on inequality, the economy, government and society;

(d) the adequacy of Australia's laws, including industrial relations laws and regulations, policies and institutions to prepare Australians for that change;

(e) international efforts to address that change; and

(f) any related matters.

(2) That the committee present its final report on or before the first sitting Thursday in June 2018.

(3) That the committee consist of six senators, as follows:

(a) two nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate;

(b) two nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate;

(c) one nominated by minor party and independent senators; and

(d) one nominated by the Leader of the Australian Greens; and

(4) That:

(a) participating members may be appointed to the committee on the nomination of the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate or any minority party or independent senator; and

(b) participating members may participate in hearings of evidence and deliberations of the committee, and have all the rights of members of the committee, but may not vote on any questions before the committee.

(5) That the committee may proceed to the dispatch of business notwithstanding that not all members have been duly nominated and appointed and notwithstanding any vacancy.

(6) That the committee elect as chair one of the members nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, and as deputy chair the member nominated by minor party and independent senators.

(7) That the deputy chair shall act as chair when the chair is absent from a meeting of the committee or the position of chair is temporarily vacant.

(8) That, in the event of an equality of voting, the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, have a casting vote.

(9) That the committee and any subcommittee have power to send for and examine persons and documents, to move from place to place, to sit in public or in private, notwithstanding any prorogation of the Parliament or dissolution of the House of Representatives, and have leave to report from time to time its proceedings and the evidence taken and such interim recommendations as it may deem fit.

(10) That the committee have power to appoint subcommittees consisting of 3 or more of its members, and to refer to any such subcommittee any of the matters which the committee is empowered to consider.

(11) That the committee be provided with all necessary staff, facilities and resources and be empowered to appoint persons with specialist knowledge for the purposes of the committee with the approval of the President of the Senate.

(12) That the committee be empowered to print from day to day such papers and evidence as may be ordered by it, and a daily Hansard be published of such proceedings as take place in public.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government does not support the establishment of this committee, which is nothing better than an attempt to circumvent established Senate processes. The Senate Education and Employment References Committee is not currently undertaking any inquiries, meaning a new select committee is entirely unnecessary.

Question agreed to.