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Chapter 16 - Committees
Consideration of committee reports
Standing order 39 provides that no
discussion shall take place on the presentation of a report but that the report
and any documents accompanying it may be ordered to be printed. Any further proceedings
on a report occur by motion after notice. Standing order 62, however,
provides two special times for the presentation and debate of committee reports
when they may be debated (see Chapter 8, Conduct of Proceedings, under
Consideration of committee reports and Auditor-General’s reports). In
conjunction with the acceptance of motions moved by leave on the presentation
of reports at other times, this means that in practice most committee reports,
except reports on bills, are debated on presentation.
The procedures for
presentation and debate of committee reports have been considered several times
by the Procedure
Committee. In its First Report of 1990, the Procedure Committee examined a suggestion
by the Committee of Privileges that there should be a limited debate on the
presentation of reports and that, to discourage unauthorised disclosure,
reports should be presented as early as possible on days when the Senate meets
in the mornings (PP 436/1990, pp 1-2, 7, 9). The Procedure
Committee reported that the idea had merit but its preferred approach was to
allow limited debate as a matter of right regardless of when a committee report
was presented. The matter was referred back to the committee for
reconsideration and in its Second Report of 1991 the committee suggested that
any such debate on a committee report should be interrupted after 30 minutes
(PP 466/1991, pp 1-2). Again, the Senate referred the matter for
reconsideration but the Procedure Committee, noting resistance to its earlier
proposals, recommended no changes to the procedures current at the time (First
Report of 1992, PP 527/1992, pp 3-4). Eventually, variations on these proposals
were incorporated into changes to the hours of sitting and routine of business
adopted by the Senate on 2 February 1994. These changes, recommended by the Procedure
Committee in its Second Report of 1993 (PP 212/1993), included provision of an
opportunity, on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, for committee reports to be
presented and debated by right, without the need for the Senate to grant leave,
and these provisions are now reflected in standing order 62.
At other times when committee reports are presented, it is customary
for the Senate to grant leave for a motion to take note of the report to be
moved. When this occurs, senators may speak for up to 10 minutes to the motion
and there is a 30 minute limit on the total time for debate. Debate on all such
motions is limited to 60 minutes where two or more motions are moved in
succession (SO 169(2)).
Standing order 60 provides that a
motion for the consideration or adoption of the report of a committee of the
Senate and any government statement on such a report takes precedence of any
other General Business on the day on which it is set down for consideration.
Since most initial consideration of committee reports occurs by debate on a
motion moved by leave when the report is presented, this procedure is rarely
used.
When debate on a motion in relation to a committee report is adjourned
or interrupted by other business, consideration of the report becomes an order
of the day for the next day of sitting, in accordance with standing order 62. One hour is
allocated for such debate on Thursday and senators may speak for not more than
10 minutes. A senator who has already spoken to the report on its presentation
may speak to it again when debate is called on again under standing order 62. During
consideration of orders of the day relating to committee reports and government
responses, reports are called on in the following order:
-
orders
of the day relating to reports or government responses presented that week are
called on in the order in which they were presented;
-
orders
of the day relating to reports or government responses presented prior to that
week are called on in the reverse order of presentation; that is, from latest
to earliest.
If an order of the day is called on and no senator speaks to it or
wishes to adjourn the debate, the question on the motion is put and the item
removed from the Notice Paper.
In most cases, the motion moved in relation to a report is that the
Senate take note of the report. Where a report presents recommendations
requiring some action by the Senate, the motion is that the report be adopted.
Such motions are usually moved in relation to reports of the Committee of
Privileges and the Selection of Bills Committee, whose recommendations require
adoption by the Senate to bring them into effect.
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