Chapter 16 - Committees
Reports
It is the chair’s
responsibility to prepare a draft report and
submit it to the committee (SO 38(1)). The usual
practice is for the chair to give drafting instructions to the secretary who
prepares a draft for the chair. When the chair is satisfied with the draft it
is circulated to other members of the committee.
Other committee members have two options to frame their own reports. A
committee member other than the chair may submit a draft report to the
committee and the committee decides on which report to proceed (SO 38(3)). After a report has
been agreed to by the
committee, a minority or
dissenting report may be added to the report by any member or group of members,
and any member or participating
member may attach
relevant conclusions and recommendations to the report. Individual members may
otherwise influence the content of the report by proposing amendments to it
either during the initial deliberative phase (SO 38(2)) or upon reconsideration
(SO 38(4)).
In 1995 the Senate
passed a resolution asserting the right of senators who add dissenting or
minority reports to committee reports not to disclose their reports to
committee majorities until the reports have been printed. This motion arose out
of past difficulties with committees, particularly the Joint Foreign
Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee, with complaints by those submitting
dissenting or minority reports that majority reports were subsequently
rewritten to respond to dissenting or minority reports (22/11/1995, J.4198).
In 1989, Senator Alston gave an unusual notice of motion, alleging that Opposition members of
the former Standing Committee on Legal and
Constitutional Affairs had not been given sufficient opportunity to consider a
final draft of the committee’s report on the duties and responsibilities of
company directors. The motion would have directed the committee to reconsider
the draft report and to provide opportunity for all members of the committee to
consider it fully (25/10/1989, J.2145). On 1 November 1989, statements were
made by the chair of the committee and Senator Alston indicating that the matter had been resolved. The
notice of motion was then withdrawn (SD, 1/11/1989, p. 2760).
Legislative and general purpose standing committees are required to
make regular reports to the Senate on the progress of their proceedings (SO 25(18)). Such
general progress reports are rare, as committees usually present their
substantive reports in a timely manner, or in stages where appropriate, thus
fulfilling their obligation to report regularly. For an example of a general
report on proceedings, see Report on References Not Disposed of by the
Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defence During the 34th Parliament,
November 1987 (PP 218/1987). Select committees are required to comply with the
reporting dates fixed at their
establishment, unless an extension is sought and
granted (SO 28). A select
committee is usually empowered on appointment to report from time to time. If
it is not, it will need to seek the agreement of the Senate to make an interim
report.
A committee may
include in camera evidence in its report
after a formal decision to that effect, although before doing so it will have
regard to any assurance it may have given to the witness at the time the
evidence was heard (see Privilege Resolution 1(8) and Chapter 17,
Witnesses). Although not formally required to do so, a committee should inform
the witness of its intention and provide an opportunity to respond. A possible
course is to edit the evidence so as to permit the committee’s objectives to be
met while preserving as much as possible of what the witness considers should
not be disclosed. On 13 February 1991, the Senate agreed to an order
regulating the use of in camera evidence in dissenting reports (now in SO 37(2)). If a
committee cannot reach agreement on the disclosure of the evidence, the
dissenting senator may refer to the evidence only to the extent necessary to
support the reasoning of the dissent. If practicable, the witnesses involved
should be informed in advance of the proposed disclosure and given reasonable
opportunity to object to the disclosure and ask that particular parts not be
disclosed. The order also obliges committees to give careful consideration to a
witness’s objections and to disclosing the evidence in a way that would conceal
the identities of the witness or persons referred to in the evidence.
The report of a committee is a record of an inquiry but does more than
merely record the evidence taken by the committee. The main purpose of a report
is to make recommendations for future action. Senators may be required to make
forward-looking political judgments which tend to lead rather than follow
public opinion. Some committee reports may therefore break new policy ground,
while others provide definitive reviews of existing policies, organisations,
programs or legislation and contain recommendations for their development.
Successive
governments have undertaken to
respond to the recommendations of committees, and the current undertaking is
for a response within three months. The Senate indicated its view that the
government should provide such responses not only to recommendations in the
majority report of a committee but also to any minority or dissenting report or
any additional material attached by members or participating members (see
below, under Consideration of committee reports).
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