Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, previously I moved a motion of dissent from a ruling of the presiding officer in the chair on 25 June 2015. I will be very brief but it is perhaps important to relate the background. In a deal done between the Greens and Senator Lazarus, a Greens member resigned from the chair of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee and for some inexplicable reason, which was never explained to anyone, Senator Lazarus was appointed chair of that references committee of which previously Senator Wright had been the chair. I am not sure of Senator Wright's position in relation to these dealings. I do note, however, that Senator Wright has indicated that she will be leaving the Senate in the future.

At the time, there was a motion by Senator Lazarus to set up a select committee to inquire into, effectively, firearms. I do not have the exact terms of reference but the select committee to deal with firearms seemed to me to be a bit beyond the call of this chamber and again brought the Senate committees into disrepute.

When this deal was done, that Senator Lazarus take over the chair of the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee in place of a Greens senator who had been allocated that position, his motion for a select committee was withdrawn. But instead a motion came forward that the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee be given the reference to inquire into fire alarms. I repeat that: the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee was given a reference to deal with fire alarms in Australia.

Now, it happened that the Deputy President was in the chair, and I might indicate that I have the highest regard for the Deputy President. Mr President, I think indeed he is, since you were Deputy President, one of the best Deputy Presidents we have had for some time. But I raised with the Deputy President a point of order, the effect of which was that the Senate should not accept a motion referring a matter that had nothing to do with the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee to that committee. I suggested that the person in the chair, who happened to be the Deputy President, should reject the motion because it was simply contrary to any reasonable understanding of the way this Senate operates and of the way the committee system operates, which so far has served the Senate and the Australian people very well.

The Deputy President, I suspect, being able to count the numbers, in brief time—in fact, I do not think he even gave me the opportunity of explaining my point of order—ruled that there was no point of order and, as a result of that, I gave notice that the Deputy President's ruling that there was no point of order be dissented from.

Mr President, I have no desire nor wish to embarrass any of the people who take the role of Presiding Officer. I am also—not that I have done any counting, but I suspect I can work it out—aware of how this motion would be dealt with were it put to a vote. But I did want to raise those issues and to make a plea to all senators that indeed if this Senate is going to regain the respect it once had for the work of its committees it really has to take a more sensible, serious and mature look at the way committees are set up, the particular references that committees take and the way they are dealt with. Otherwise, I regret to say that the high regard with which Senate committees have always been held over time immemorial—since Senate committees started in this parliament—will quickly dissipate.

But having said that, I seek leave of the chamber to withdraw my motion.

Leave granted.