Page 3194 - Week 10 - Thursday, 25 September 2014
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On the conference floor in June, the motion was passed unanimously. I was so proud of this young man’s work which showed his capability and passion for getting things right. I am so glad that I was able to congratulate him right then and there on his success and to tell him of my admiration for his achievements.
Question resolved in the affirmative, members standing in their places.
Sitting suspended from 10.36 to 10.49 am.
Administration and Procedure—Standing Committee
Report 4
MADAM SPEAKER: Pursuant to order, I present the following report:
Administration and Procedure—Standing Committee—Report 4—Inquiry into standing order 241—Disclosure of proceedings, evidence and documents of committees, dated 24 September 2014, together with a copy of the extracts of the relevant minutes of proceedings.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (10.49): I move:
That the report be adopted.
Members will recall that in the course of a vigorous debate in this Assembly some months ago about the disclosure or otherwise of committee proceedings I moved that this matter be discussed in the administration and procedure committee to reflect on whether the standing orders reflected accurately the practices of this place. The administration and procedure committee did look at this matter and we have now provided a report to the Assembly. I would like to thank my fellow committee members, Mr Smyth, Madam Speaker and Dr Bourke, and the secretariat, particularly Tom Duncan and Janice Rafferty, for the support I received.
We worked through this issue and really took the approach of looking at the current practice of other parliaments across Australia and New Zealand, as I had identified that in the terms of reference. The New Zealand parliament being, of course, a close parliament had different practices that I had suggested we canvass as part of looking at what was the right practice here in the ACT. Without disclosing the proceedings of the committee there was a thorough discussion on this. We did look at all of the other jurisdictions across the country and in New Zealand. In the committee report there is a fairly succinct and useful summary of those practices.
There were some differing views in the committee, as we have noted, about what was the most appropriate practice but ultimately the committee did come to a view. There was a middle ground here that preserved the integrity of a committee’s deliberations whilst allowing for discussion once the report was finalised. It was agreed that any disclosure during that period should be limited to members only.
This reflects the Senate practice which essentially says that once a committee has finalised its report members are free to discuss that with other members. To my mind
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