For the sitting period 26-30 May 1997
ORDERS FOR PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS
An unusual set of twin orders for production of documents was
passed on 29 May; they required the production of documents of the
same type and on the same subject but by two different ministers.
This reflects a recent practice of directing orders for documents
to a particular minister so that responsibility for any default can
be clearly ascribed. There is nothing to prevent an order being
directed to the government generally, but it is felt that directing
orders to a particular minister leaves less room for excuse for
failure to comply. The orders related to the controversial matter
of the continuation of Radio Australia and Australia Television,
and were designed to elicit evidence of the value of those services
from communications with the government, and to test ministerial
suggestions that there was little concern about proposals to
abandon the services. Both orders were complied with on the same
day by the production of a large volume of documents.
An order passed on 26 May illustrated the wisdom of directing
orders to a particular minister. The order, relating to export
licences for woodchips from native forests in Western Australia,
had not been complied with by 30 May, the Leader of the Government
in the Senate and Minister for the Environment, Senator Hill,
indicating that some of the documents belonged to a House of
Representatives minister who needed to clear their production. The
documents were produced later that day after the threat of a
censure motion which consumed some of the time for government
business in the morning.
THE PARLIAMENT AND THE COMMONWEALTH
One of the consequences of strict executive government control
over the House of Representatives is that the House never takes any
action on behalf of Australia without the government initiating or
at least approving that action, so that there is no possibility of
the House speaking for the country separately from the
government.
The Senate, however, not being under government control, quite
frequently takes action on behalf of Australia and speaks for the
country in a manner contrary to the wishes of the executive
government. An example of this occurred in relation to the report
of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission on the
separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from
their families, the "stolen children" report. The government
rejected the recommendation of the Commission that an apology be
offered on behalf of the nation for the past policies examined in
the report, and therefore no resolution of apology was passed by
the House of Representatives. The Senate, however, by way of an
amendment to a motion to take note of the report on 29 May, offered
such an apology "on behalf of the nation".
Other examples are provided by resolutions of the Senate
relating to foreign affairs, which are conveyed to foreign
governments. These resolutions are frequently resisted by the
government on the basis that the Senate should not enunciate its
own foreign policy. An instance occurred on 29 May, when the Senate
passed a resolution concerning the treatment of the Ogoni people,
which, amongst other things, calls for the Nigerian government to
be put on notice that its membership of Commonwealth bodies may
depend on its human rights record, and requires the President to
write to the British Secretary of State for Foreign and
Commonwealth Affairs expressing the Senate's grave concern about
the matter. No doubt the British Secretary of State will not be
surprised to receive this communication, being accustomed to other
legislative bodies not under executive government control, but
other foreign governments appear not to appreciate the legislature
taking a different view from the executive government. Resolutions
of the Senate relating to Tibet, for example, are responded to in
that spirit by the Chinese Ambassador to Australia and the
responses are tabled in the Senate.
Returning to Aboriginal affairs, the resolution relating to the
30th anniversary of the 1967 referendum was also amended on 27 May
to express the Senate's, as distinct from the government's, view on
the matter.
LEGISLATION
The AIDC Sale Bill was significantly amended on 26 May in
relation to ownership of shares in the Australian Submarine
Corporation.
The hearing services package of bills was amended on the same
day by striking out an item, an amendment of the kind which can be
made at any time by an equally divided vote, but which in this
instance was carried by a majority.
The Customs and Excise Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 1996,
considered on 28 and 29 May, again raised the contentious
matter of the diesel fuel rebate scheme, and was substantially
amended after consideration of some length.
It is unusual for the non-controversial bills considered at
lunch times on Thursdays to be amended, but the Fisheries
Legislation Amendment Bill 1996 was substantially amended on the
motion of the Democrats at that time in relation to fisheries
management.
On the last day of the period the Senate commenced its
consideration of a controversial package of bills to introduce
competition into employment services. The government made a threat
to abandon the bills and to introduce the scheme by way of
administrative action if the bills were unacceptably amended. One
amendment opposed by the government was carried on that day with
the consideration of the bill continuing and no sign of the threat
being carried out.
PARLIAMENTARY PRIVILEGE
The Senate adopted on 29 May two reports of the Privileges
Committee dealing with allegations of false or misleading evidence,
the evidence in question having been given by the Queensland
Criminal Justice Commission and by officers of Telstra. The
committee found that contempts had not been committed, but
recommended that the Senate again reiterate the principle that
statutory bodies are accountable to Parliament for their
operations. The adoption of the reports was accompanied by
significant debate on the protection of whistleblowers and the
principles of accountability.
DELEGATED LEGISLATION
The significance of some delegated legislation was illustrated
by debates on unsuccessful disallowance motions on 29 May. Controls
on the export of certain minerals had been maintained in place
against the wishes of the government by the refusal of the majority
of the Senate to allow regulations removing those controls. On that
day, however, the government was finally successful in having the
Senate approve of the relevant regulations. Similarly, the
government, in effect, obtained approval of regulations relating to
the regional forest agreements. The treatment of the latter
regulations was unusual in that two motions for the disallowance of
the regulations were moved together, the motions being identical
except that one included some words concerning relevant government
policy.
COMMUNICATION OF SENATE RESOLUTIONS
Standing order 154 allows a motion to be moved at any time to
communicate to the House of Representatives a resolution of the
Senate. This provision has been used in recent times to draw the
government's attention to resolutions of the Senate relating to
particular matters of controversy and to provide a particular
vehicle for debate in the House of Representatives which the
government might not wish to allow.
On 29 May a motion was passed to send a message to the House
containing a resolution of the Senate about the difficult question
of tariffs and the future of the automobile industry, the
resolution having been passed in the form of an urgency motion
under standing order 75. No action having been taken in the House
on this message, a motion was passed on the following day again
sending the resolution to the House with a request for concurrence
with the terms of the resolution.
COMMITTEES
The following committee reports were presented during the
period:
Date tabled |
Committee |
Title |
27.5 |
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport
References |
Interim Report—Commercial Utilisation of
Australian Native Wildlife |
" |
Finance and Public Administration Legislation |
Additional Information—Budget and Additional
Estimates 1996-97 |
" |
Economics Legislation |
Report—Industrial Relations Legislation
Amendment Bill 1996 |
29.5 |
Scrutiny of Bills |
7th Report and Alert Digest No. 7 of 1997 |
" |
Economics Legislation |
Report—Taxation Laws Amendment
(Infrastructure Borrowings) Bill 1997 |
" |
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport
Legislation |
Additional Information-Additional Estimates
1996-97 |
" |
Economics Legislation |
Report—Taxation Laws Amendment Bill (No. 2)
1997 |
" |
Privileges |
66th Report—person referred to in the
Senate |
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