Appendix D – Selection Committee Principles
In formulating the priority to be given to items of private
Members’ business the Selection Committee shall have regard to:
(a) the importance of the subject;
(b) the current level of interest in the subject;
(c) the extent of the current discussion on the subject both
in the Parliament and elsewhere;
(d) the extent to which the subject comes within the
responsibility of the Commonwealth Parliament;
(e) the probability of the subject being brought before the
House by other means within a reasonable time; and
(f) whether the subject is the same, or substantially the
same, as another item of business which has been debated or on which the House
has already made a decision in the same period of sittings and, if so, whether
new circumstances exist.
2. The Committee shall accord priority to private Members’
business:
(a) with regard to the numbers of Members affiliated with
each party in the House;
(b) in a way which ensures that a particular Member or the
Members who comprise the Opposition Executive do not predominate as the movers
of the items selected;
(c) in a way which seeks to ensure balance is achieved over
each period of sittings;
(d) in a manner that ensures appropriate participation by
non-aligned Members.
3. When a private Member has the responsibility for the
carriage of a bill transmitted from the Senate for concurrence, the bill shall
be accorded priority following the question for the second reading being put to
the House in the same way as a private Member’s bill originating in the House
is accorded priority by standing order 41.
4. Priority shall not be accorded to any item of private
Members’ business if the matter should be dealt with by the House in another,
more appropriate, form of proceeding.
5. The general principles set out above shall be observed by
the Selection Committee but nothing in the general principles shall be taken to
prevent the Selection Committee departing from those general principles in
order to meet circumstances, which, in its opinion, are unusual or special.
6. These general principles shall continue in effect until
altered by the House following a report from this or a future Selection
Committee.