House debates

Monday, 22 June 2015

Committees

Standing Committee on Procedure; Report

12:28 pm

Photo of Don RandallDon Randall (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Procedure, I present the committee's report entitled Role of the Federation Chamber: Celebrating 20 years of operation, together with the minutes of proceedings. I am pleased to have been given the opportunity to table what I understand is the first committee report to be presented here in the Federation Chamber today and I acknowledge the presence of my deputy chair, the member for Melbourne Ports. Fittingly, it is a report celebrating the 20th anniversary of the operations of this very place. The Federation Chamber was established in 1994, on suggestion of the Procedure Committee, as a venue to debate noncontroversial legislation in order to relieve legislative pressure on the House.

Over the last two decades, the Federation Chamber has met its original purpose of providing a parallel legislative stream and has evolved in its role in ways that enhance the operations of the House. It also gives members valuable opportunities to speak on matters of importance for their electorates. Significantly, it allows ministers, including parliamentary secretaries, an opportunity to speak on constituency issues that they are not otherwise afforded in the House.

The report finds that the establishment of the Federation Chamber has been an unqualified success for House of Representatives. It provides the House with an average of 165 additional debating hours each year, without having to extend the hours of the main chamber. Indeed, it has been such a success that Westminster, the venerable institution we look to for much of our procedure, has adopted the innovation. However, the report notes the decline in business before the Federation Chamber during the life of this 44th Parliament. It calls on committees to make better use of the opportunity to have the reports debated here in the Federation Chamber in a timely manner.

When the leader of the House proposed the changes to the standing orders at the start of the 44th Parliament, he stated that the changes were designed to give the Federation Chamber more status, ensuring that sufficient business is referred regularly and is an important part of enhancing this chamber. Recognising the inherent flexibility in the order of business for the Federation Chamber, the report also calls for an extension of time to be allowed for grievance debates and constituency statements so that, when there is no government business to debate, this time can be used for this important opportunity for members to debate issues of importance to their electorates

The Federation Chamber embodies some of the best work that the House does, being largely consensus work. Unfortunately, its work and its role is not well-known beyond this place, and the report recommends that the Federation Chamber be better promoted on the parliament's website and to visitors to Parliament House. The committee also recommended that further changes be made to this venue to enhance its image and distinguish it from the committee rooms.

I note the lead that the Deputy Speaker, the member for Maranoa, has already taken in this regard, and the committee strongly supports him in his efforts to enhance this important chamber.

Finally, the report acknowledges the workload management of the Federation Chamber and adds to those whips responsible for managing its operations, and recommends that additional resources be given to these officers to support this work. In its 21years, the Federation Chamber has evolved to meet the needs of the House and its members. The committee is confident that it will continue to evolve and be an important part of the House in the future. I wish to thank the Committee Secretary Catherine Cornish, Justin Baker and all committee staff that are present here today. I commend the report to the Federation Chamber and the House.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 12:32 to 12:47

12:47 pm

Photo of Michael DanbyMichael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

I join the member for Canning in celebrating 21 years of the operation of the Federation Chamber, or 'fed chamber' as it is fondly referred to by members and staff. The fed chamber was established in 1994 as a product of this procedures committee. The 1993 procedures committee met to discuss ways to improve the efficiency, and indeed the quality, of debate in the Australian parliament. Paragraph 12 of its report at the time said:

During the first decade of Federation—

the House sat for—

about 25 hours per Act. In 1992 this figure…was just over 2 hours—

per act.

The imposition from 1986 of Senate deadlines through the receipt of bills from the House also added time pressure.

The Federation Chamber as it was called, the Main Committee, was established because of a commitment to democracy. This 1993 report made clear there was not enough time to debate bills and amendments were not being moved—much less debated.

The Main Committee, now Federation Chamber, allowed more productive use of parliamentary hours. It allows for continual reforms and improvements and a testing ground for new procedures as the report notes. For instance, the new procedures include the introduction of constituency statements and subsequently allowing petitions to be tabled during them. More importantly, the Federation Chamber allows, and indeed was primarily designed, for the debate of non-controversial legislation. Both of these additions are a great improvement, particularly for the role of private members. It is a much more intimate setting, which fosters a sense of consensus that it is supposed to engender.

Due to the displays on offer in the other chamber, many Australians forget that much legislation has passed successfully through these halls without acrimony. In this chamber we allow the proper discussion of bills so that members can put on record their concerns or support for these bills without necessarily having to vote on them—we send it downstairs when that is necessary.

The worthiness of the Federation Chamber was quickly recognised. Within six months of its commencing operation Kim Beazley, the then member for Brand and Leader of the House, who is today Australia's outstanding ambassador to the US, said:

The effect of the Main Committee on the decency of procedures in the House has really been quite manifold.

The report being tabled today celebrates the success of the Federation Chamber over the past 21 years and looks ahead to determine future improvements that could be made. The report notes that the committee heard a number of concerns that the chamber has fewer bills referred to it than previous parliaments—that is, a concern that the Federation Chamber is being under-utilised by the government. The Leader of the House or the Chief Government Whip may make programming declarations to refer bills to the Federation Chamber. This was a useful amendment to standing orders. Throughout 2014, however, there was a substantial drop in the number of bills referred to the Federation Chamber. Concurrently there has been an increase in the number of bills subjected to time restrictions, usually through a suspension of standing orders. That was the very problem that the Federation Chamber was designed to solve. I urge the current government to reverse this slide. While the government might point to a lack of consensus on some bills—which, of course, is what the Federation Chamber requires for bills to pass—the report notes in paragraph 3.8:

The Committee notes the possibilities offered by the blocks of government business time available in the Federation Chamber. These provide opportunities for large numbers of Members to contribute to debates on bills and, if used fully, would minimise the need for debate to be curtailed in the House.

The report also notes the decline in the number of committee reports debated in the Federation Chamber, despite a comparable number of reports with previous parliaments. The report goes on to make seven other recommendations—some about the operation of the Federation Chamber and others about its physicality or support services. I support and commend these suggestions of the committee.

Finally, while there may be few elected members left in these halls who took part in the debate that established the Federation Chamber, I salute their wisdom, including the wisdom of the former speaker Mr Peter Slipper. One of his major changes was, I understand, to change the unknown Main Committee—people did not know where it was or what it was—to the more appropriate Federation Chamber. I salute their wisdom as well as the wisdom of their contemporary colleagues who have since left this place in establishing this very worthwhile chamber. It has improved the workings of Australian democracy and it has been imitated around the world. Imitation, as we know, is the best form of flattery, and I think that the wisdom of the kinds of democratic procedures we have established by having these parallel chambers of parliament has been seen in this parliament and all around the world.