There were a number of notable moments in the chamber on Tuesday, from two personal explanations made concerning political party membership, to new standing orders of the Legislative Council coming into play for the very first time. The ICAC and LECC Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 was also passed, and several inquiry-related matters raised and reported. Read on for more…
PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS FROM THE HON ROD ROBERTS & THE HON MARK LATHAM
Early in the sitting day, the Hon Rod Roberts and the Hon Mark Latham each made personal explanations in the chamber, relating to their individual resignations from Pauline Hanson’s One Nation Party. Both members will serve the remainder of their terms in the Council as independent members. Read Mr Roberts’ explanation in Hansard here, and Mr Latham’s explanation here.
PASSED: ICAC AND LECC LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL 2023
The ICAC and LECC Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 was back before the House on Tuesday, having been introduced during the previous sitting week. The bill would make changes to the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988 and the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission Act 2016 to implement responses to recommendations previously made by the Parliament’s Joint Committee on the Independent Commission Against Corruption in 2022 reports. See our earlier blog entry for more.
During the second reading debate, contributions were made by members of the Opposition, an Independent, The Greens and the Government.
When the House resolved into committee of the whole, the Hon Damien Tudehope, moved four amendments on behalf of the Opposition. The first sought to change the timing of the commencement of parts of the Act from three months after assent to upon assent, and the balance of the amendments generally related to time limits which would apply to an ICAC investigation and provision of a report to Parliament. The amendments were negatived on division (Ayes: 16 / Noes 20).
The full second reading debate and committee of the whole proceedings can be read here.
The third reading of the bill was agreed to on the voices, and the bill was forwarded to the Legislative Assembly for its concurrence.
MINISTERIAL STATEMENTS
During the sitting, the Leader of the Government in the Council, the Hon Penny Sharpe, made statements announcing changes to ministerial portfolios, representation of the Government in the Council, and parliamentary secretaries. Click the links to find the full details in Hansard.
PROCEDURE ALERT: STANDING ORDER 52(7)
When the Council’s new standing orders were agreed to in November last year, among the changes was a new addition to standing order 52 (the order covering the House’s powers to order the production of documents by the executive government). In respect to the provision of documents by the Executive, new standing order 52(7) was introduced to cover a third category of documents – returns to orders containing personal information – in addition to the existing categories of ‘public’ and ‘privileged’ documents.
Under the standing order, if a claim is made that documents returned contain personal information that should not be made public but is not otherwise subject to a claim of privilege, the documents are made available only to members of the Legislative Council. Any member may then request in writing to the Clerk that any document be redacted of that personal information so that it can be tabled and made public within seven days.
On Tuesday, standing order 52(7) came into play for the very first time, with the House advised that documents contained in two returns to orders were set to be redacted and published under this procedure.
NEW INQUIRIES ESTABLISHED AND REPORTED
Early in the sitting, the House agreed to an amendment to the motion to implement the recommendations in the Selection of Bills Committee’s most recent report, which resulted in the Electoral Funding Amendment Bill 2023 being referred to the Council’s Premier and Finance Committee for inquiry. The bill was introduced during the previous sitting week, and the short inquiry will be conducted before members undertake debate on the bill. You can follow the inquiry along here.
The House was also informed of three other recently established inquiries:
- An inquiry of the Privileges Committee to review the Parliament’s Independent Complaints Officer system, including in relation to relevant recommendations from the Independent Review of Bullying, Sexual Harassment and Sexual Misconduct at NSW Parliament Workplaces. Learn more about the inquiry here.
- An inquiry into current and future public transport needs in Western Sydney, being conducted by the Transport and Arts Committee. With formal submissions and an inquiry survey open until 18 September, find more information here.
- An inquiry into the pressures on heavy vehicle drivers and their impact in NSW – another inquiry of the Transport and Arts Committee, with submissions open until 18 September. Learn more here.
COMMITTEE REPORTS & ‘TAKE NOTE’ DEBATES
The recent release of the State Development Committee’s report into NSW’s Debt Retirement Fund was reported in the House on Tuesday. Published on Friday 18 September, the report’s key finding was that “the current policy settings of the Debt Retirement Fund are not fit-for-purpose in today’s economic environment”. Read the report here.
‘Take note’ debates on committee reports and their government responses also took place during the sitting. See the links below for the full overviews in the Hansard record:
- Both the interim and final report of the inquiry into the appointment of Mr John Barilaro as Senior Trade Investment Commissioner to the Americas (dated February 2023) and their government responses
- The government responses to the February 2023 reports 2022 Review of the Compulsory Third Party Insurance Scheme and 2022 Review of the Lifetime Care and Support Scheme.
GENERAL MOTIONS
The following motions were agreed to without debate, during the morning’s formal business:
- Acknowledgement of Darren Bark, moved by the Hon Chris Rath (Liberal)
- Australian Bangladesh Business Forum, moved by the Hon Scott Farlow (Liberal)
- National Korean War Veterans Armistice Day 2023, also moved by Mr Farlow
REPORTS TABLED AND REPORTED IN THE HOUSE
A number of documents were tabled and reported in the House on Tuesday, including Regional, rural and remote education – an August 2023 performance audit report of the Auditor-General.
Find the full list of documents and downloads in our Tabled Papers Database.