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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-05-12 Daily Xml
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Parliamentary Procedure

SITTINGS AND BUSINESS

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister Assisting the Premier in Public Sector Management) (17:51): I move:

That, during the present session and unless otherwise ordered, if the council has not adjourned at 10pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, a minister shall move the motion 'That the council do now adjourn.'

Last Thursday, when we debated procedural matters, I indicated that it is always appropriate that, at the start of the session, we look at how we can make the business of the council more efficient and more contemporary, particularly in relation to the changes made some time ago in the House of Assembly.

All this motion does is put a nominal 10 o'clock cap on sittings on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Should it be carried, it is of course always in the power of the council, if it does not wish to adjourn at that time, to refuse or, indeed as the motion provides, unless otherwise ordered, the council could take action to continue sittings. However, really, I think this motion needs to be considered in relation to a number of other changes that do not require changes to the standing orders.

After having discussions with some members of the council, I think this is the general view. Again, when this motion is debated at a later time, I will be interested to hear the views of members; essentially, this motion is here to generate that discussion. Until we actually put something before the council, as we have experienced in the past, it is unlikely that any change will ever happen.

What we could do in conjunction with this, I believe, is to consider sitting a little earlier in the evening rather than 7.45. A number of members have made the comment to me, 'Why don't we resume at 7.30, after the tea-break?' That at least would give us an extra 15 minutes in the evening, and it would mean that we would not have to sit so late.

There is also the option of the council sitting on Wednesday and Thursday mornings from 11am to 1pm. It has been the practice of the council in recent years that we have, depending on business, been able to sit between 11am and 1pm, usually on Thursdays but often also on Wednesday in recent times. So, it does provide an extra two hours on each of those two days to complete the business so that we do not need to have the long sittings in the evening. I believe that does not require a change to the sessional orders, but it is something we can arrange, depending on the business before the council.

If you look at all those three measures together—that is, perhaps an earlier start in the evening, 7.30pm rather than 7.45pm, the use of Wednesday and Thursday morning sittings, where appropriate—I believe this motion has some merit by putting at least a cap or a target for completing business by 10 o'clock on Tuesdays and Wednesdays when the council normally sits. As I said, if the business of the council requires it, we can sit beyond that cap. However, one would hope that, if we have the cap on those days, it will act as some encouragement for the council to endeavour to complete its business before that time.

As I said, I am moving this motion as a sessional order to see how it works. It would be my proposal that we perhaps do it in conjunction with those two other measures I have indicated, which do not need a change to sessional orders. However, as I indicated last week, as the Leader of Government Business, I am also keen to hear from any other members if there are ways in which they believe we can make our sittings more efficient.

One of the other ways which has been suggested is the capacity, particularly since there are a large number of bills these days, including private members' bills, to incorporate second reading speeches within Hansard without reading them. That is something that we can now do under the standing orders and I would encourage members that, where appropriate—and it may not always be appropriate and if someone wants to introduce a private member's bill, they can always read it out if they wish to do so—we insert that in Hansard, because I believe that would make the sittings of the chamber more efficient.

I hope that those measures I have canvassed, including the one in this motion, will be considered by the chamber, and I look forward to hearing debate on this motion in the days ahead. I commend it to the council.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. D.W. Ridgway.

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