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senate vote 2014-09-23#3
Edited by
mackay staff
on
2014-11-14 16:40:43
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Title
Committees — Certain Aspects of Queensland Government Administration — Debate the motion- Committees - Certain Aspects of Queensland Government Administration - Debate the motion
Description
The majority voted against an [amendment](http://www.openaustralia.org/senate/?gid=2014-09-23.106.1) moved by Senator [Eric Abetz](http://publicwhip-rails.openaustraliafoundation.org.au/members/senate/tasmania/eric_abetz), which means that it was unsuccessful. His amendment would have changed the following wording of Senator [Glenn Lazarus](http://publicwhip-rails.openaustraliafoundation.org.au/members/senate/queensland/glenn_lazarus)' [previous motion](http://www.openaustralia.org/senate/?gid=2014-09-23.105.1) that his motion to establish the Select Committee on Certain Aspects of Queensland Government Administration is "moved and determined without debate" to "and have precedence over all other business today until determined". In other words, Senator Abetz wanted to ensure that the motion to establish the Select Committee can be debated.- The majority disagreed that the motion to establish a [select committee](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Senate_committees#Select_committee) [should be debated](http://www.openaustralia.org/senate/?gid=2014-09-23.106.1), which was proposed by Liberal Senator [Eric Abetz](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/tasmania/eric_abetz).
_Background to the motion_- ###What will the committee do?
Senator Lazarus explained that his motion to establish a [select committee](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Senate_committees#Select_committees) on certain aspects of the Queensland government administration was motivated by the fact that, "[o]ver the last 18 months, serious issues have been raised across the community regarding Queensland government appointments, judicial appointments, project approvals, use of funds, policies and practices, environmental degradation and various other matters" (see [here](http://www.openaustralia.org/senate/?gid=2014-09-23.96.1) for Senator Lazarus' full explanation).- The select committee will inquire into and report on:
- * what the [Queensland Government](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Queensland) has done with funds given to them by the [Federal Government](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_Australia) since 26 March 2012 (which is when Premier [Campbell Newman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell_Newman) took up his office);
- * [judicial independence](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judicial_independence) and [separation of powers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_powers);
- * the approval process for development projects related to exporting resources or services;
- * whether the Queensland Government's policies are consistent with Australia's obligations under [international law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_international_law), including [environmental law](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_law) and [human rights](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_human_rights_law) instruments; and
- * how appropriate it is for the Federal [Minister for the Environment](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minister_for_the_Environment_%28Australia%29) to delegate his approval powers to the Queensland Government under the [Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment_Protection_and_Biodiversity_Conservation_Act_1999).
- But! Because of Australia's [federal system of government](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_Australia), the committee can only look into these things if they in some way relate to the Commonwealth.
- ###Background to the motion
- Palmer United Party Senator [Glenn Lazarus](http://publicwhip-rails.openaustraliafoundation.org.au/members/senate/queensland/glenn_lazarus) explained that he proposed to establish this select committee because "serious issues have been raised across the community regarding Queensland government appointments, judicial appointments, project approvals, use of funds, policies and practices, environmental degradation and various other matters" (see his [full explanation](http://www.openaustralia.org/senate/?gid=2014-09-23.96.1)).
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senate vote 2014-09-23#3
Edited by
mackay staff
on
2014-10-09 09:46:33
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Title
Committees — Select Committee on Certain Aspects of Queensland Government Administration Related to Commonwealth Government Affairs; Appointment- Committees — Certain Aspects of Queensland Government Administration - Debate the motion
Description
<p class="speaker">Ian Macdonald</p><p>I very much appreciate the opportunity to take part in this debate.</p><p>I did say earlier that in my long period here, this is the most outrageous motion for a committee—</p>- The majority voted against an [amendment](http://www.openaustralia.org/senate/?gid=2014-09-23.106.1) moved by Senator [Eric Abetz](http://publicwhip-rails.openaustraliafoundation.org.au/members/senate/tasmania/eric_abetz), which means that it was unsuccessful. His amendment would have changed the following wording of Senator [Glenn Lazarus](http://publicwhip-rails.openaustraliafoundation.org.au/members/senate/queensland/glenn_lazarus)' [previous motion](http://www.openaustralia.org/senate/?gid=2014-09-23.105.1) that his motion to establish the Select Committee on Certain Aspects of Queensland Government Administration is "moved and determined without debate" to "and have precedence over all other business today until determined". In other words, Senator Abetz wanted to ensure that the motion to establish the Select Committee can be debated.
- _Background to the motion_
- Senator Lazarus explained that his motion to establish a [select committee](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Senate_committees#Select_committees) on certain aspects of the Queensland government administration was motivated by the fact that, "[o]ver the last 18 months, serious issues have been raised across the community regarding Queensland government appointments, judicial appointments, project approvals, use of funds, policies and practices, environmental degradation and various other matters" (see [here](http://www.openaustralia.org/senate/?gid=2014-09-23.96.1) for Senator Lazarus' full explanation).
<p class="speaker">Stephen Parry</p><p>Order! Senator Macdonald, this is not your fault; it is the fault of everyone else around you. Could I ask that if senators wish to listen to the debate that they return to their seats and would those who do not wish to participate please leave the chamber. That includes senators having discussions within the body of the Senate chamber.</p> <p class="speaker">Ian Macdonald</p><p>As I was saying, this is the most outrageous abuse of the processes of this parliament that I have seen in my long years here. I see Senator Faulkner in the chamber now and I am surprised that Senator Faulkner has not spoken on this high farce—this absolute abuse of power by the Palmer United Party in relation to this.</p><p>As I said earlier, I have some thought that perhaps the debate might be worthwhile having. I would just love to get a bloke named Hedley Thomas into the inquiry under parliamentary privilege. I read some of what Hedley Thomas writes about different issues. He is a very interesting sort of journalist, but I suspect that a lot of what he would want to write has been excluded by the legal advisers to his paper. But under parliamentary privilege, who knows what Mr Thomas might be able to inform us of about happenings in Queensland? So, on one hand, I am almost convinced to support this. But I would not because it is an abuse of the Senate powers.</p><p>I just want to go through the details of the provision. I will start with the motion setting up the committee itself. In this chamber the coalition has 33 members. My arithmetic on the run is not all that good, but I think that is about 40 per cent of the Senate. What are we going to get on this committee? Twenty per cent of the voting rights on this committee! By contrast, the Palmer United Party, which represents—what?—about five per cent of the members of this committee, is going to get 33 per cent of the voting members of the committee, and they are also going to get, on the motion of Senator Lazarus, Senator Lazarus as its chairman! That in itself would raise eyebrows anywhere around.</p><p>As I said to Senator Lazarus before, if he needs the money, which he will get as chairman of a committee, then perhaps he should not be driving the two-door Mercedes-Benz vehicle which is apparently his and which is parked in the Senate car park. Senator Lazarus clearly does not need the additional money for being a chairman of a committee if he is able to drive a fairly smart, latest-model, two-door Mercedes-Benz to parliament. So I cannot understand why that is.</p><p>Mr President, if you had any suggestion that this was to be a serious investigation into any operations that the Commonwealth is associated with, why would you set up a committee that had one member of the government, two members of the Labor Party—who only have 25 senators here—one member of the Greens and one member of the Palmer United Party? That, in itself, it shows what a farce this whole exercise is.</p><p>Just looking at the terms of reference: one of the terms of reference is :</p><p class="italic">… identified breaches of funding agreements or conditions—</p><p>of Commonwealth funds paid to the state of Queensland.</p><p>Well, that is a great vote of confidence in the Australian National Audit Office, isn't it? That is what the Australian National Audit Office is about. You do not need a Senate inquiry to determine if there have been breaches of funding agreements; that is what the Australian National Audit Office is all about! Clearly, Labor, the Palmer United Party and the Greens have absolutely no confidence in the Australian National Audit Office—an office, I think, which over many years and many governments has had the united support of governments and parliaments in the past. Apparently, that does not apply any more.</p><p>One of the terms of reference is:</p><p class="italic">… the proportion of the Queensland State Budget derived from Commonwealth funds, …</p><p>Why do we need a committee to work that out? I will give Senator Lazarus a calculator and he can work that out himself. Those figures are clearly available on the budget papers both governments so why you need a Senate inquiry and all costs and paraphernalia that go with it to work out the proportion of the Queensland state budget derived from Commonwealth funds is completely unknown to me.</p><p>The inquiry also wants to work out whether any funds have been used by the state of Queensland for state government advertising or party political purposes. I am pretty relaxed about that except to say that if Senator Abetz's amendment—or was it Senator Mason's amendment that he foreshadowed—that the inquiry go back beyond the can-do Campbell Newman government to the Anna Bligh government is passed—and I cannot think of any reason why it would not be—I would be very interested to see what Commonwealth funds from the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd governments were used by the Bligh government for advertising of party political purposes.</p><p>Mr President, I might say—and you might give me some assistance—that at some stage I want to move the amendment suggested by Senator Mason: that the date be a date that Senator Mason mentioned—</p> <p class="speaker">Stephen Parry</p><p>Senator Macdonald, you have asked me a direct question. You cannot do that because we have not reached that point of the debate. The debate is still about the amendment moved by Senator Abetz. We have got two more motions to get to before we will get there. So it cannot be moved at this point.</p> <p class="speaker">Ian Macdonald</p><p>Thank you very much, Mr President. I just wanted to highlight that Senator Mason or me or Senator Abetz or Senator Brandis will want to move that motion, and I foreshadow that amendment.</p><p>I also want to foreshadow the amendment I did mention briefly previously: that the reporting date should be extended for 12 months. Mr President, if this is such an important issue, then clearly the parliament would want to investigate it fully, in which case we need more than just six months. It is going to be an extensive inquiry, I see from the terms of reference, so we would not want to curtail the time of the committee.</p><p>I noticed one of the terms of reference of the committee says that the committee is:</p><p class="italic">… to move from place to place (including, but not limited to, major metropolitan and regional centres in Queensland and the committee shall conduct—</p><p>and this is a bit unusual itself in Senate committees—</p><p class="italic">public hearings in Nambour, Ipswich, Mackay, Rockhampton, Kingaroy, Mt Isa, Bundaberg, Toowoomba, Townsville and Cairns).</p><p>I am a bit offended that my home town of Ayr has missed out on that, but clearly there is some method in the madness. I would be pleased if someone who is supporting this motion might indicate the significance of those particular towns. What happened to the Gold Coast or, indeed, what happened to the Sunshine Coast—do I see that there?</p> <p class="speaker">James McGrath</p><p>Nambour is there.</p> <p class="speaker">Ian Macdonald</p><p>Nambour is not quite Sunshine Coast, although I would bow to your superior knowledge, Senator McGrath, as I know you have recently opened your office in Nambour. But what about—and there is a resort up there somewhere—</p> <p class="speaker">James McGrath</p><p>Coolum.</p> <p class="speaker">Ian Macdonald</p><p>Wouldn't it be a good to have an inquiry hearing in Coolum as well? I think that would be most useful. But for some reason it is not on this particular list and I am really struggling to work out why Kingaroy is favoured over Ayr or Ingham or Innisfail or Hughenden. But the movers of the motion will no doubt explain this when they get up to perhaps try to convince us that this is a good idea.</p><p>As I go through the terms of reference I have mentioned the chairman of the committee to be set up. I would like to ask Senator Lazarus what argument there is for him being the chairman of this. He is a nice fellow and I like Senator Lazarus as a Queenslander. I am not sure that that I always liked his football affiliations, but I know that he would have been with me in barracking for the Cowboys last week when we were robbed by New South Wales referees. I am sure that Senator Lazarus would have been with us then. But I am just curious about his qualities to be appointed as a chair of this committee. I am not sure how many committees Senator Lazarus has already sat on. I suspect not many and I am pretty confident that he has never been a chair of any committee, so it is interesting that he should be appointed chair. The deputy chair is said to be elected by the committee, which means that it will go to the Labor Party or the Greens—but I would bet that it would be the Labor Party.</p><p>A quorum of the committee is to be three votes. The committee is to report from time to time. I suspect as the Queensland election campaign gets underway, you will find the committee wanting to report very, very regularly. Whilst I think this is a farce and an abuse of the powers of the Senate, again, I would be very interested in the reports of the committee on the evidence that I would certainly hope Mr Hedley Thomas might be able to give.</p><p>I would also be interested perhaps in a report on a document that Senator O'Sullivan mentioned before and, hopefully, that document that Senator O'Sullivan talked about will be tabled in evidence before the committee. Senator O'Sullivan, I think you said that it was a suggestion to the Deputy Premier of Queensland on how he should determine issues relating to certain railway lines going to proposed coal mines in the Galilee Basin of Queensland.</p><p class="italic">Senator O'Sullivan interjecting—</p><p>Thank you. I will take the interjection because Senator O'Sullivan has acknowledged that that is what the document is about. Hopefully, that will be tabled. It is something that I hope the committee will report on from time to time as we approach the Queensland election, which, coincidently—as has been mentioned before—coincides with the reporting date as currently proposed for this committee. I am suggesting that, if this motion is at all serious, the reporting date should be extended for another year so that a proper investigation into all the matters that I have mentioned takes place.</p><p>I alert senators to another term of reference of this committee. The committee has the power to appoint subcommittees consisting of two or more of its members and to refer to any such subcommittee any of the matters which the committee is empowered to consider. Just think about that for a moment. You can have a committee consisting of two Labor members and no-one else—talk about a closed shop! I have heard about union closed shops, but the unions could learn something from this motion.</p><p class="italic">Senator O'Sullivan interjecting—</p><p>It could also be, Senator O'Sullivan, a subcommittee of the Greens members—Senator Waters, no doubt—and Senator Lazarus himself.</p> <p class="speaker">Barry O'Sullivan</p><p>What there could not be is anyone from the government because there are not two of them involved.</p> <p class="speaker">Ian Macdonald</p><p>That is a very good point, Senator O'Sullivan.</p> <p class="speaker">Stephen Parry</p><p>Order! No interjections.</p> <p class='motion-notice motion-notice-truncated'>Long debate text truncated.</p>
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