Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) | Hansard source

I seek leave to amend notice of motion No. 729 in the terms circulated in the chamber.

Leave granted.

I move the motion as amended:

(1) That a select committee, to be known as the Select Committee on Measuring Outcomes for First Nations Communities, be established to inquire into, document and report on the current regression of the Closing the Gap targets on the rates of suicide, the number of children in out-of-home care, adult incarceration and the number of children commencing school who are developmentally on track, with particular reference to:

(a) the ways in which the targets are funded;

(b) the ways in which the targets are measured and evaluated;

(c) the priority of the targets in the National Partnership Agreement and progress under the National Priority reforms;

(d) the degree to which current measurements and targets reflect the strengths of First Nations cultures, as opposed to an emphasis on deficit and lack;

(e) the possibility of incorporating broad ideas about wellness into measurements, with a view to promoting mental, physical and spiritual health and wellbeing;

(f) the incorporation of alternative measurements as a complement to existing measurements;

(g) opportunities for building on and expanding the current Closing the Gap framework; and

(h) any other related matters.

(2) That the committee present its final report by 30 May 2025.

(3) That the committee consist of 5 senators, as follows:

(a) two nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate;

(b) two nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate;

(c) one nominated by the Leader of the Australian Greens in the Senate.

(4) That:

(a) participating members may be appointed to the committee on the nomination of the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate or any minority party or independent senator;

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

(c) a participating member shall be taken to be a member of a committee for the purpose of forming a quorum of the committee if 3 members of the committee constituting a quorum are not present.

(5) That the committee may proceed to the dispatch of business notwithstanding that all members have not been duly nominated and appointed and notwithstanding any vacancy.

(6) That the committee elect as chair the member nominated by the Leader of the Australian Greens in the Senate and, as deputy chair, a member nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

(7) That the deputy chair shall act as chair when the chair is absent from a meeting of the committee or the position of chair is temporarily vacant.

(8) That the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, may appoint another member of the committee to act as chair during the temporary absence of both the chair and deputy chair at a meeting of the committee.

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

(10) That the committee have power to appoint subcommittees consisting of three or more of its members, and to refer to any such subcommittee any of the matters which the committee is empowered to consider.

(11) That the committee and any subcommittee, notwithstanding any prorogation of the Parliament or dissolution of the House of Representatives, have power to send for and examine persons and documents, to move from place to place, to sit in public or in private and have leave to report from time to time its proceedings and the evidence taken and such interim recommendations as it may deem fit.

(12) That the committee be provided with all necessary staff, facilities and resources and be empowered to appoint persons with specialist knowledge for the purposes of the committee with the approval of the President.

(13) That the committee be empowered to print from day to day such papers and evidence as may be ordered by it, and a daily Hansard be published of such proceedings as take place in public.