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| House of Representatives Standing Committee on Procedure

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Monitoring and review of procedural changes implemented in the 43rd Parliament: 4th Report

November 2012

View the report as a single document - (PDF 695KB)

View the report as separate downloadable parts:


Preliminary pages	(PDF 105KB)

Chapter 1 Introduction	(PDF 77KB)
Background Scope of the inquiry Conduct of the inquiry Structure of the report

Chapter 2 The reforms – an overview	(PDF 137KB)
The objective of the reforms Role of the Speaker Selection Committee Question Time Opportunities for private Members Voting on private Members’ bills Other opportunities for private Members The House committee system Consideration of bills Questions during second reading debate Other procedural reforms Repeating a division Non-procedural reforms Parliamentary resources Enhancing parliamentary standards

Chapter 3 Increased participation by all Members	(PDF 131KB)
Private Members’ business Selection Committee Private Members’ motions Private Members’ bills Committee comment Other opportunities for private Members Adjournment debates Members’ 90 second statements Discussion of Matters of Public Importance (MPI) The balance between private Members’ business and government business and the nature of legislative debate Committee comment

Chapter 4 Question Time	(PDF 107KB)
Question Time Time limits and duration Supplementary questions Content of questions and answers Backbench question time Committee comment

Chapter 5 The committee system and other issues	(PDF 224KB)
Committee system Number of committees and membership Referral of bills to committees Statements by Chairs and Deputy Chairs Government responses Committee comment Other issues Changes to weekly sitting hours Refinements to improve the efficiency of proceedings Renaming of the Main Committee Committee comment

Appendix A – List of submissions and exhibits	(PDF 41KB)

Appendix B – Agreement for a Better Parliament: Parliamentary Reform	(PDF 175KB)

Appendix C – Recommendations of previous interim reports	(PDF 82KB)