Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That:

(1) a Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia be appointed according to the practice of the Parliament;

(2) the committee consider policies for developing the parts of Australia which lie north of the Tropic of Capricorn, spanning Western Australia, Northern Territory and Queensland, and in doing so:

(a) examine the potential for development of the region’s mineral, energy, agricultural, tourism, defence and other industries;

(b) provide recommendations to:

  (i)   enhance trade and other investment links with the Asia-Pacific;

  (ii)   establish a conducive regulatory and economic environment;

  (iii)   address impediments to growth; and

  (iv)   set conditions for private investment and innovation;

(c) identify the critical economic and social infrastructure needed to support the long term growth of the region, and ways to support planning and investment in that infrastructure;

(d) report to each House of the Parliament; and

(e) have such other functions as agreed to by resolutions of the House of Representatives and the Senate;

(3) as soon as practicable after 30 June 2014, the committee present an interim report to Parliament on the activities of the committee, which should include particular reference to the outcomes of public hearings held across Northern Australia, and any specialist knowledge emanating from the public submissions process;

(4) the committee deliver its final report and recommendations to the Parliament on or before 6 September 2014;

(5) the committee consist of 12 members, 4 Members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Government Whip or Whips, 3 Members of the House of Representatives to be nominated by the Opposition Whip or Whips or by any minority group or independent Member, 2 Senators to be nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate, 2 Senators to be nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, and 1 Senator to be nominated by any minority group or independent Senator;

(6) participating members may be appointed to the committee on the nomination in the House of Representatives, of the Government or Opposition Whip or Whips, or any minority group or independent Member, and in the Senate, of the Leader of the Government or Opposition, or any minority group or independent Senator, and such participating member:

(a) shall be taken to be a member of the committee for the purposes.

(b) may participate in hearings of evidence and deliberations of the committee and have all rights of a committee member except that a participating member may not vote on any questions before the committee;

(7) 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;

(8) 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;

(9) the committee elect a:

(a) Government member as its chair; and

(b) 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;

(10) at any time when the chair and deputy chair are not present at a meeting of the committee the members shall elect another member to act as chair at that meeting;

(11) in the event of an equally divided vote, the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, have a casting vote;

(12) five 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;

(13) the committee:

(a) 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

(b) appoint the chair of each subcommittee who shall have a casting vote only;

(14) each subcommittee shall have at least one Government member of either House and one non-Government member of either House;

(15) 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;

(16) two members of a subcommittee constitute a quorum of that subcommittee, provided that in a deliberative meeting the quorum shall include one Government member or either House and one non-Government member of either House;

(17) 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;

(18) the committee or any subcommittee have power to:

(a) call for witnesses to attend and for documents to be produced;

(b) conduct proceedings at any place it sees fit;

(c) sit in public or in private;

(d) report from time to time; and

(e) adjourn from time to time and to sit during any adjournment of the Senate and the House of Representatives;

(19) the committee be:

(a) provided with all necessary staff, facilities and resources and be empowered to appoint persons with specialist knowledge for the purposes.

(b) empowered to publish from day to day such documents and evidence as may be ordered by it, and a daily Hansard be published of such proceedings as take place in public;

(20) the provisions of this resolution, so far as they are inconsistent with the standing orders, have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the standing orders; and

(21) a message be sent to the Senate acquainting it of this resolution and requesting that it concur and take action accordingly.

Question agreed to.