David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

(1) That a select committee, to be known as the Select Committee on the Transparency of Political Processes, be established to inquire into and report on the appropriateness of the current Lobbying Code of Conduct, access to ministers' diaries and other rules and regulations, on safeguarding the integrity of the Australian Government and the Australian Parliament from inappropriate influence, with particular reference to:

(a) the adequacy of current transparency arrangements relating to the lobbyist register;

(b) the adequacy of the current sponsored pass system to access Australian Parliament House with particular regard to transparency and publication of pass holders and their sponsors;

(c) the adequacy of transparency of minister's diaries, including comparisons to practices of the states and territories and other jurisdictions;

(d) the effectiveness of transparency arrangements to ensure decision making by the executive is not unduly influenced; and

(e) any other related matters.

(2) That the committee may report from time to time and must present its final report by 27 May 2024.

(3) That the committee consist of 6 senators, as follows:

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

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

(c) two nominated by minority party or independent senators.

(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 the committee for the purpose of forming a quorum of the committee if a majority of members of the committee is not present.

(5) That:

(a) a quorum of the committee shall be 3 members of the committee where at least one member present was appointed to the committee on the nomination of minority party or independent senators and where one member present was appointed to the committee on the nomination of either the Leader of the Government in the Senate or the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate; and

(b) a quorum of a subcommittee shall be 2 members of the committee where at least one member present was appointed to the committee on the nomination of minority party or independent senators.

(6) 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.

(7) That the committee elect as chair a member nominated by the crossbench in the Senate and as deputy chair a member nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate.

(8) 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.

(9) 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.

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

(11) That the committee have power to appoint subcommittees consisting of 3 or more of its members, and to refer to any such subcommittee any of the matters which the committee is empowered to consider.

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

(13) 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.

(14) 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.

Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—At the request of Senator Pratt, I move that the motion be amended in the terms circulated in the chamber:

(1) Paragraph (1), omit all words after "That", substitute "the following matter be referred to the Finance and Public Administration References Committee for inquiry and report by 30 April 2024: Access to Australian Parliament House by lobbyists and the adequacy of current transparency arrangements relating to the lobbyist register, with reference to the adequacy of:

(a) current transparency arrangements relating to the lobbyist register;

(b) the current sponsored pass system for lobbyists to access Australian Parliament House with particular regard to transparency and publication of lobbyists who are pass holders and their sponsors; and

(c) publicly accessible information of Australian Parliament House passholders who are lobbyists and their sponsors.

(2) Omit paragraphs (2) to (14).

Question agreed to.

Original question, as amended, agreed to.