John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Messages have been received from the House of Representatives transmitting for concurrence resolutions relating to the formation of joint committees as listed at item 15 on today's order of business.

Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by lave—I move:

That senators be discharged from and appointed to committees as follows:

Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity—Joint Statutory Committee—

Appointed––Senators Edwards and Parry

Constitutional Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples—Joint Select Committee—

Appointed––Senators McKenzie and Ruston

Corporations and Financial Services—Joint Statutory Committee—

Appointed––Senators Bushby and Fawcett

Education and Employment Legislation Committee—

Discharged––Senator Smith

Appointed––Senator Kroger

Electoral Matters—Joint Standing Committee—

Appointed––Senators Kroger and Ruston

Environment and Communications Legislation Committee—

Appointed––

  Substitute member: Senator Whish-Wilson to replace Senator Waters for the committee's inquiry into Australia Post on 6 December 2013

  Participating member: Senator Waters

Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade—Joint Standing Committee—

Appointed––Senators Eggleston, Fawcett, Kroger, Macdonald and Parry

Law Enforcement—Joint Statutory Committee—

Appointed––Senators Edwards and Parry

Migration—Joint Standing Committee—

Appointed––Senators Edwards and Williams

National Broadband Network—Select Committee—

Appointed––

  Senators Ruston, Seselja, and Smith

  Participating members: Senator Abetz, Back, Bernardi, Birmingham, Boswell, Boyce, Brandis, Bushby, Cash, Colbeck, Cormann, Edwards, Eggleston, Fawcett, Fierravanti-Wells, Fifield, Heffernan, Johnston, Kroger, Macdonald, Mason, McKenzie, Nash, Parry, Payne, Ronaldson, Ryan, Scullion, Sinodinos and Williams

National Capital and External Territories—Joint Standing Committee—

Appointed––Senator Seselja

National Disability Insurance Scheme—Joint Standing Committee—

Appointed––Senators McKenzie, Seselja and Smith

Parliamentary Library—Joint Standing Committee—

Appointed––Senators Boswell, Seselja and Williams

Treaties—Joint Standing Committee—

Appointed––Senators Fawcett, Kroger and Smith.

Question agreed to.

I move:

That consideration of message No. 27 relating to the Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia be made an order of the day for the next day of sitting.

Question agreed to.

I seek leave to have the remaining messages considered immediately.

Leave granted.

I move:

That the Senate concurs with the resolutions of the House of Representatives contained in messages Nos 15 to 26, relating to the appointment of certain joint committees.

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

by leave—I wish to speak to the motion of concurrence in the formation of the committees that have been announced. I will not keep the Senate for too long. I just want to indicate to other parties, to whom I have distributed a proposed amendment, why this is not proceeding now, and that is because the government has asked to have a little extra time. I would certainly hope that the government will agree with the amendments that I have moved, which in fact bring the establishment of this committee more into line with the coalition's pre-election promise in relation to Northern Australia.

I will speak at more length on that tomorrow when the motion is dealt with. Hopefully it will not have to be a long speech, because hopefully the government will agree. I have not approached the Greens, the Australian Labor Party or the Democratic Labor Party or Senator Xenophon to lobby for this. I would hope they might have supported it anyhow, and particularly after I explain the purposes of the proposed amendments.

Can I just say in relation to the substantive motion, which deals with other select committees, that I have become more concerned perhaps only in recent times on how the Senate does not always seem to be consulted as fully as it should in relation to joint committees. It disturbs me somewhat—I do not know what happens with the Labor Party—that decisions seem to being made outside of the Senate on what happens in these committees and how they are constituted. That is something I will be pursuing over the next 6½ years that I am in the Senate—God willing.

I want to draw to the notice of the Senate one step forward by the House of Representatives in relation to joint committees, and that is that, in relation to some joint committees now and to the Joint Select Committee on Northern Australia—which is not being debated just at the moment—they have at last accepted the Senate practice of having participating members. I think that is appropriate. Not all of us can be on every single joint committee. Many of us have an interest in various committees, but there is a limit to the number of voting members. I think the idea of having participating members on joint select committees is an appropriate one. With that explanation to others to whom I distributed my proposed amendments on why it is not being dealt with now, I would urge support for concurrence with the motion before the chair.

Question agreed to.