Chapter 9 - Motions
and amendments
Amendments
A motion which has been duly moved and
has become a question before the Senate may be the subject of an amendment,
which may be moved without notice, except where the standing orders provide
that particular motions are not open to amendment.
The following
motions are not open to amendment:
-
for the
adjournment of the Senate (SO 53(3))
-
formal
motions (SO 66)
-
to determine
the postponement of business for which the senator in charge has lodged a
postponement notification (SO 67)
-
for the
first reading of bills, except bills which the Senate may not amend (SO 112(1))
-
for a
bill to be considered an urgent bill (SO 142(1))
-
for the
chair to report progress and ask leave for the committee of the whole to sit
again (SO 144(6))
-
that an
objection to a ruling by the chair requires immediate determination (SO 198(2))
-
for an extension of time
for a senator to speak (SO 189(1))
-
for a
debate to be adjourned (SO 201(2))
-
for the
closure of a debate (SO 199(1))
-
for a senator to be
suspended from the sitting of
the Senate, in case of disorder (SO 203(3))
-
urgency
motions (SO 75(6))
-
for the
business of the day to be called on, moved during discussion of a matter of
public importance (SO 75(8)).
Some of these standing orders provide only that motions are not
debatable, but such non-debatable motions also cannot be amended, because
senators cannot receive the call to move amendments to them. (The standing
orders may provide explicit exceptions to this principle: under SO 24A(7), an amendment
may be moved to a motion to adopt a report of the Selection of Bills Committee
even when the time for debate on the motion has expired.)
There are three
kinds of amendments:
The mover of an amendment must submit it in writing and sign it (SO 90(2)). Normally
copies of amendments are circulated in the Senate chamber. These rules are not
enforced where an amendment is simple and easily understood (ruling of President Turley, SD, 4/12/1912, p. 6329).
Although not required to do so, senators occasionally give notice of
amendments, to alert other senators of the content of amendments to be moved (12/2/2008, J. 17;
Notice Paper 13/2/2008, p. 3).
An amendment must be relevant to the motion to which it is moved (SO 90(3)). This
requirement is interpreted liberally so as not to restrict unduly the rights of
senators. If an amendment relates to the subject matter of a motion or to a
closely related subject matter it is accepted.
An amendment may not be moved if it is a direct negative to the
question (rulings of President Baker, SD, 17/11/1904, p. 7072, 19/10/1905, p. 3757). An
amendment is not regarded as a direct negative unless it would have exactly the
same effect as negativing the motion (ruling of acting Deputy President Wood, SD, 14/8/1968, p. 68).
An amendment may not be moved if it is the same in substance as an amendment
already determined to the same question, or would have the effect only of
reversing an amendment already made (SO 92). This rule
prevents issues already decided being canvassed again by means of amendments.
An amendment is accepted, however, if its effect is in any way different from
one which has already been determined. An amendment moved in a different
context, for example, as part of a different “package” of proposals, is not the
same amendment even if identical in terms to one already moved (SD, 8/11/2000,
pp 19358-9; 18/8/2003, p.
13832).
A senator who has moved a motion or who has spoken in the debate on it
may not move an amendment, and a senator may not move more than one amendment
to a motion (SO 90(4)). Either of
those actions would involve a senator receiving the call more than once in
relation to a motion. These rules do not apply in committee of the whole,
however, where a senator may speak more than once on any question (see Chapter
10, Debate, under Right to speak, and Chapter 14, Committee of the Whole
Proceedings, under Right to speak and Time limits).
When an amendment to a motion has been proposed, it must be disposed of
before another amendment may be moved (SO 91(2)). So that the
rights of senators are not unduly restricted, by long-established practice a
senator who speaks in a debate after an amendment has been moved and who wishes
to move another amendment may foreshadow the further amendment and move it when
the original amendment is determined.
As with an original motion, an amendment once moved is in the
possession of the Senate and may not be withdrawn except by leave (SO 91(3)).
Where a motion is the subject of an amendment, at the conclusion of the
debate the President puts the question that the amendment be agreed to, and
then the question that the motion (as amended, if the amendment has been
passed) be agreed to.
An amendment may be
moved to a proposed amendment as if the proposed amendment were the original
question (SO 93). The procedure
of moving an amendment to an amendment is used where, for example, a senator
wishes to agree to words which are proposed to be inserted or added to a motion
but wishes to modify them. Where an amendment to an amendment is moved, the
chair first puts the amendment to the amendment, then the amendment (as amended
if the amendment to the amendment is agreed to), and finally the original motion
(as amended if any amendment has been agreed to). This procedure ensures that
the motion which finally emerges, if it is passed, has the support of a
majority of senators present and voting, and that a senator is not compelled to
vote on a motion until there has been opportunity to put it into a form with
which the senator could be in complete agreement.
As an alternative to the moving of an amendment, a senator, usually the
mover of a motion, may amend a motion by leave before it is put.
Where the Senate
has before it a resolution of the House of Representatives to which the
Senate’s agreement is sought, the Senate cannot amend the resolution, and
therefore may agree to the resolution subject to specified amendments or
modifications.
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