Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

Rules for the remote participation of senators in Senate proceedings

While these rules are in effect:

(1) A senator may seek and receive the call to speak by video or audio link by addressing the President. Wherever practicable, this should be in accordance with a list of speakers provided through the whips.

(2) Senators participating remotely:

(a) may not move motions or amendments, other than amendments and requests to legislation in committee of the whole; and

(b) may not propose or be counted in support of a proposal to discuss an MPI or urgency motion.

(3) Senators may not be counted in the formation of a quorum, may not draw attention to the lack of a quorum, may not raise points of order, and may not call for or participate in a division unless they are physically present in the Senate chamber.

(4) To avoid doubt:

(a) the standing orders and other orders of the Senate, including the standing orders relating to the conduct of senators and rules of debate, otherwise apply to senators participating remotely, to the extent they are capable of applying; and

(b) the contributions of remote participants form part of Senate proceedings and are to be incorporated in the Hansard record.

(5) Standing orders that require or rely on the provision of documents to the President or the Clerk, as the case may be, or the presentation of documents to the Senate, will be satisfied by the provision or presentation of a digital copy of the document. A document provided in digital format will not be taken to be received unless its receipt is acknowledged by or on behalf of the President or the Clerk.

These rules for the remote participation of senators in Senate proceedings, recommended by the Procedure Committee in its first report of 2020, would have effect during the sittings of the Senate from 24 August to 30 September 2020. This sitting fortnight will be the first time that senators will be able to participate in proceedings remotely. This is obviously in the context of the ongoing effect around Australia of the coronavirus pandemic and a desire to ensure that our workplace in the Senate is as COVID-safe as possible while facilitating participation by all senators as appropriate.

The rules that have been agreed to by the Procedure Committee have been developed on the principle that the proceedings of the Senate are to be managed in the Senate by those senators present in the Senate chamber. Importantly, senators participating remotely can participate in any matter that is before the chair but are limited to being able to only move amendments and request for amendments to legislation in Committee of the Whole. The general principle for remote participation is that those colleagues who are participating remotely will be able to participate in relation to any issue that is before the chair but can't themselves bring matters before the chair, with the exception of amendments to legislation in Committee of the Whole.

I think the measures are well understood and I commend them to the chamber.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll have more to say subsequently, but I will just make a couple of points. First, I thank the Procedure Committee for their work in collaboratively preparing the rules for participation in these proceedings. I would emphasise that the rules reflect the principle of the primacy of parliament and that proceedings have to be managed in the chamber; hence the parameters for remote participation. I would also emphasise that these are interim arrangements and that we would be keen to ensure that the Procedure Committee review the operation of the order after the fortnight. Mr President, I thank you for your assistance on this and, in particular, I thank the Deputy President for shepherding this work through.

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution to the debate. The Greens have always said that the parliament can and should proceed, as long as the health advice says that it's safe to do so. That's why we did not support the suspension of parliament, effectively for six months, back in March. It is our view that there remained other ways to manage parliament sitting and that a suspension was not justified.

The Greens have been calling on the government to allow for remote participation in parliament for some time, and we are disappointed that it has taken this long to get to the place that we are now. It is clear that, like other workplaces across Australia, the federal parliament can and should continue to operate. I will, of course, acknowledge that we have all been very active and working very hard remotely and in our offices and participating in endless Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Webex and Skype meetings—and other virtual meetings; whatever virtual medium there is, we have been using it. But the parliament has not been sitting. Other workplaces have been adapting since the beginning of the year, yet the parliament has taken this long to get to this place.

We should not have missed the two important weeks of parliament at the beginning of the month simply because we didn't have this process in place. However, we are very pleased that it is now in place—and, as you can see, some of our Greens senators are up there on the screen; I can't see from here who the other person is. Senators should be able to carry out their duties remotely. Things such as moving motions are an important part of representing our constituencies. So the Greens, as noted in the procedure committee report that was tabled on Friday, are disappointed that senators are excluded from participating in some of the processes that operate in this place.

We do understand that meeting in parliament and section 20 of the Constitution is very important, but we are disappointed that some of the processes that are available when you're here in the Senate are not available to those participating remotely. We do appreciate that senators can participate in the Committee of the Whole. That is very important, but we're disappointed that they can't participate in some of the other processes that are available in the Senate, and during the review process that Senator Wong mentioned we would like to ensure that we look at how we can open the process up to enable participation in some of the wider processes that are available to the senators in the chamber.

Question agreed to.