Chairs and Deputy Chairs of Committee of Privileges 1971-2011

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[updated to 5 June 2011]

As at 5 June 2011, there have been twelve chairs of the Committee of Privileges, namely Senators Drake-Brockman, Button, Jessop, Childs, Giles, Reynolds, Teague, Ray, Faulkner, Brandis and Johnston (current). Until 10 October 1994, the chair was required, by Standing Orders, to be a member nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Changes to Standing Orders which took effect on that date require that certain committees, including the Privileges Committee, be chaired by a member nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. The longest-serving chair has been Senator Robert Ray, who held the office for eight years and six months.

Chairs’ terms of service

Note: The chairmanship record, while complete, shows lengthy gaps between chairs at times. While the committee was generally re-established promptly in each new Parliament, it did not meet and elect a chair until it received a reference. Where the same person was re-elected chair in successive Parliaments, the period of service is shown as continuous.

Name	State	Party	Term of Service
Drake-Brockman, Thomas Charles	WA	CP	04/05/71-26/02/73
Button, John Norman	VIC	ALP	22/07/75-11/11/75
Drake-Brockman, Thomas Charles	WA	CP	10/04/78-30/06/78
Jessop, Donald Scott	SA	Lib	28/09/78-04/02/83
Childs, Bruce Kenneth	NSW	ALP	15/06/84-05/06/87
Giles, Patricia Jessie	WA	ALP	18/03/88-30/06/93
Reynolds, Margaret	QLD	ALP	01/07/93-09/10/94
Teague, Baden Chapman	SA	Lib	13/10/94-29/04/96
Ray, Robert	VIC	ALP	09/05/96-15/11/04
Faulkner, John Philip	NSW	ALP	18/11/04-11/02/08
Brandis, George	QLD	Lib	19/02/08-13/05/2010
Johnston, David	WA	Lib	14/05/2010-

Deputy chairs’ terms of service

Deputy chairs of the committee have been elected only recently. Their terms of service are as follows:

Name	State	Party	Term of Service
Lewis, Austin William Russell	VIC	Lib	09/05/91-19/08/92
Teague, Baden Chapman	SA	Lib	20/08/92-09/10/94
Reynolds, Margaret	QLD	ALP	13/10/94-29/04/96
Teague, Baden Chapman	SA	Lib	09/05/96-30/06/96
Knowles, Susan Christine	WA	Lib	12/09/96-22/08/03
Payne, Marise	NSW	Lib	18/09/03-12/02/04
Knowles, Susan Christine	WA	Lib	12/02/04-30/06/05
Ronaldson, Michael John Clyde	VIC	Lib	09/08/05-11/02/08
Hurley, Annette	SA	ALP	19/02/08-26/06/08
Collins, Jacinta	VIC	ALP	26/06/08-12/05/2010
Feeney, David	VIC	ALP	14/05/2010-19/07/2010
Bilyk, Catryna	TAS	ALP	30/09/10-