 |
Chapter 21 - Relations
with the House of Representatives
Messages
Messages between the two Houses may deal with:
-
transmission
of bills for concurrence, return of bills with or without amendment, and other
proceedings in connection with the consideration of bills (see Chapter 12,
Legislation)
-
requests
for the attendance of members or officers of the other House as witnesses to be
examined by the House or committee (SO 178)
-
appointment
of joint committees, appointment of members of such committees, and changes in
membership (SO 42)
-
requests
for conferences (see under Conferences, below)
-
transmission
of resolutions for concurrence (SO 154).
A message from the Senate to the House of Representatives is in
writing, is signed by the President or Deputy President, and is delivered by a
clerk at the table or the Usher of the Black Rod (SO 153).
If the House of Representatives is sitting, a message is delivered to
the House and received by the Deputy Clerk or Sergeant-at-Arms. If the House is
not sitting, the message is delivered to the Clerk of the House.
Most messages, for example messages with respect to proceedings on
bills, pass automatically between the Houses, under provisions in the standing
orders. A motion may be moved at any time without notice that any resolution of
the Senate be communicated by message to the House of Representatives (SO 154). This procedure
is used where the agreement of the House to a resolution is sought, or it is
thought appropriate to advise the House of a resolution of the Senate.
A motion that a resolution of the Senate be communicated by message to
the House may be moved by any senator, and not necessarily the senator who
moved the motion for the resolution (ruling of President Gould, SD, 28/10/1908, p. 1554).
A message from the House of Representatives is received, if the Senate
is sitting, by a clerk at the table, and if the Senate is not sitting, by the
Clerk of the Senate, and is reported by the President as early as convenient,
and a future time is normally fixed for its consideration; or it may, by leave,
be dealt with at once (SO 155).
A message is reported to the Senate by the President at any stage when
other business is not before the Senate. By convention, however, a message from
the House concerning government business is handed to the President by the
Clerk when a minister indicates that the government is ready for the message to
be reported.
The general rule, that when a message has been reported a future time
is fixed for its consideration, and it may be dealt with at once only by leave,
does not apply to messages with respect to bills, for which special provision
is made: see Chapter 12, Legislation.
An unusual situation arose in 1912, when a motion for fixing the time
for consideration of a message from the House of Representatives was negatived
(21/12/1912, J.244). The
message requested the concurrence of the Senate in a resolution agreed to by
the House favouring the formation of two new states out of the territory known
as Northern and Central Queensland. Motion was made that the message be taken into
consideration on the next day of sitting, but the motion was negatived. As the
Senate did not further sit during that session, the message was not again
brought up. The effect of the Senate’s action was that it declined to consider
the message. On many occasions the Senate has not returned to the consideration
of a message when a future time (usually the next day of sitting) has been fixed
for its consideration, because the order of the day for consideration of the
message has not been reached.
Previous page | Contents | Next page
Website feedback: web.senate@aph.gov.au
Last reviewed 2 February 2010 by the Senate Web Administrator
© Commonwealth of Australia
Parliament of Australia Web Site Privacy Statement
Images courtesy of AUSPIC
|
 |
