Page 1050 - Week 03 - Thursday, 26 February 2009

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Ayes 5

Noes 10

Mr Coe

Mr Barr

Mr Hargreaves

Mrs Dunne

Ms Bresnan

Ms Hunter

Mr Hanson

Ms Burch

Ms Le Couteur

Mr Seselja

Mr Corbell

Ms Porter

Mr Smyth

Ms Gallagher

Mr Rattenbury

Question so resolved in the negative.

Standing and temporary orders

Referral of government amendments to committee

MR CORBELL (Molonglo—Attorney-General, Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water, Minister for Energy and Minister for Police and Emergency Services) (10.50): I move:

That standing and temporary orders be amended to include a new temporary order 182A in the following terms:

182A. An amendment to be proposed by the Government must be considered and reported on by the Scrutiny Committee before it can be moved. By leave of the Assembly, this standing order may be dispensed with on the grounds that an amendment is:

(a) urgent; or

(b) minor or technical in nature; or

(c) in response to comment made by the Scrutiny Committee.

This temporary amendment to standing orders has its origin in the Labor-Greens parliamentary agreement made following the election last October. The amendment will ensure that government amendments to be proposed are examined and reported upon by the scrutiny committee before they are moved in the Assembly. The specific clause of the agreement dealing with the issue is clause 3.4 of the parliamentary agreement, which states:

A new Standing Order requiring that all Government amendments to Bills will not be able to be debated unless a scrutiny report from the Scrutiny of Bills Committee has been provided unless the Assembly agrees the amendment is of an urgent, minor or merely technical nature.

This proposed new standing order will require that government amendments are provided in advance to the scrutiny committee. The amendment is of a temporary nature, as have been the other amendments to standing orders introduced pursuant to the Labor-Greens agreement. I am sure all members will monitor its operation with interest.

An important part of the proposed new standing orders are the qualifiers in subparagraphs (a), (b) and (c). They allow the Assembly itself to dispense with the

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