Role of the Committee

1. On 2 December 2013, the Parliament agreed that a Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples be appointed to inquire into and report on steps that can be taken to progress towards a successful referendum on Indigenous constitutional recognition, and in conducting the inquiry, the committee:
   1. work to build a secure strong multi-partisan parliamentary consensus around the timing, specific content and wording of referendum proposals for Indigenous constitutional recognition; and
   2. consider:
      1. the creation of an advisory group whose membership includes representatives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to assist the work of the committee;
      2. the recommendations of the Expert Panel on Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians; and
      3. mechanisms to build further engagement and support for the constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across all sectors of the community, and taking into account and complementing the existing work being undertaken by Recognise;
2. the committee present to Parliament an interim report on or before 30 September 2014 and its final report on or before 30 June 2015;
3. the committee consist of eight members, two Members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Government Whip or Whips, two Members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Opposition Whip or Whips or by any minority group or independent Member, two Senators to be nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate, one Senator to be nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, and one Senator to be nominated by any minority group or independent Senator;
4. every nomination of a member of the committee be notified in writing to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives;
5. the members of the committee hold office as a joint select committee until presentation of the committee’s final report or until the House of Representatives is dissolved or expires by effluxion of time, whichever is the earlier;
6. the committee elect a:
   1. Government member as its chair; and
   2. non-Government member as its deputy chair who shall act as chair of the committee at any time when the chair is not present at a meeting of the committee;
7. at any time when the chair and deputy chair are not present at a meeting of the committee, the members present shall elect another member to act as chair at that meeting;
8. in the event of an equally divided vote, the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, have a casting vote;
9. three members of the committee constitute a quorum of the committee provided that in a deliberative meeting the quorum shall include one Government member of either House and one non-Government member of either House;
10. the committee:
    1. have power to appoint subcommittees consisting of three or more of its members, and to refer to any subcommittee any matter which the committee is empowered to examine; and
    2. appoint the chair of each subcommittee who shall have a casting vote only;
11. each subcommittee shall have at least one Government member of either House and one non-Government member of either House;
12. at any time when the chair of a subcommittee is not present at a meeting of the subcommittee, the members of the subcommittee present shall elect another member of that subcommittee to act as chair at that meeting;
13. two members of a subcommittee constitute the quorum of that subcommittee, provided that in a deliberative meeting the quorum shall include one Government member of either House and one non-Government member of either House;
14. members of the committee who are not members of a subcommittee may participate in the proceedings of that subcommittee but shall not vote, move any motion or be counted for the purpose of a quorum;
15. the committee or any subcommittee have power to:
    1. call for witnesses to attend and for documents to be produced;
    2. conduct proceedings at any place it sees fit;
    3. sit in public or in private;
    4. report from time to time, in order to progress constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; and
    5. adjourn from time to time and to sit during any adjournment of the House of Representatives and the Senate;
16. the committee or any subcommittee have power to consider and make use of the evidence and records of the former Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples appointed during the previous Parliament;
17. the provisions of this resolution, so far as they are inconsistent with the standing orders, have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the standing orders.