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Chapter 12 - Legislation
Limitation of debate — urgent bills
The time which the Senate may spend
considering a bill is potentially unlimited. The
opportunity for debate on the second and third readings must eventually be
exhausted, even having regard to the ability of senators to move amendments and
of senators who have already spoken to speak again to the amendments (see
Chapter 10, Debate, under Right to speak). In the committee of the whole stage,
however, senators may speak any number of times and move any number of
amendments. It is therefore possible for a determined minority to prevent the
passage of a bill indefinitely. The procedure for closure of debate (see Chapter 10, Debate, under Closure of
debate) is not a remedy for determined obstruction of a bill by a minority,
because the question for the closure has to be put on each question before the
chair, and in committee of the whole it is possible for the number of questions
to be multiplied indefinitely.
The procedures of the Senate therefore
provide a means whereby a majority may ensure that debate on a bill eventually
comes to a conclusion and the questions necessary for the passage of the bill
are put to a vote. This is the limitation of debate on urgent bills provided by
standing order 142, commonly known as the “guillotine”.
This procedure is in practice limited to government bills, because only
ministers may move the necessary motions to bring the procedure into operation.
At any stage
during the consideration of a bill, a minister may declare that the bill is an
urgent bill, and move that the bill be considered an urgent bill. That question
must be put forthwith without debate or amendment. If that question is passed,
a minister may at any time, but not so as to interrupt a senator who is
speaking, move a motion or motions specifying the time to be allotted to all or
any stages of the bill. That motion may not be debated for more than one hour,
and each senator may speak for not more than 10 minutes. At the expiration of
the hour the question on the motion and on any amendment must be put. When the
time allotted for the consideration of the bill is concluded, the chair must
put any question then before the Senate or the committee of the whole,
including any amendment already moved, and any other questions necessary to
bring proceedings on the bill to a conclusion. There is also provision for any
amendments which have been circulated in the Senate at least two hours before
the expiration of the allotted time to be put and determined.
The closure may
not be moved during consideration of a bill for which time has been allotted
under this procedure (SO 142(5)), but may be moved on the motion
for the allotment of time.
A motion to
declare a bill an urgent bill may be moved before or after an order of the day
relating to a bill is called on, and in spite of a senator normally having a
right to the call to speak on the resumption of a debate (rulings of President
Cormack, 14/9/1972, J.1106-7; of President Laucke, 16/5/1980, J.1351).
Motions under this procedure may apply to
a number of bills (rulings of President Cormack, SD, 6/6/1973, pp 2401-13, 2531-2, 2547-8; 29/11/1973,
J.538; 13/12/1973, J.623; of President Laucke,
20/5/1980, J.1361-2).
A limitation of
time continues to operate in relation to a bill in spite of the expiration of
the allotted time because of, for example, time taken in divisions (ruling of
President Laucke, 25/2/1977, J.599).
Motions to
declare a bill urgent and to allot time for its consideration may be moved in
committee of the whole on the bill, but are not effective in the Senate until
the Senate has adopted the report of the committee and thereby agreed to the
committee’s action (ruling of President McMullin, 11/11/1954, J.103).
A bill once
declared urgent remains an urgent bill until it is disposed of; thus, if a bill
declared urgent in the Senate is returned from the House of Representatives, a
minister may move a motion to allot time for its further consideration.
There are two
methods of allotting time for consideration of a bill under this procedure. A
time may be specified for concluding the proceedings on a bill. In that
circumstance, if the Senate is not considering the bill at the time specified,
the business before the Senate is interrupted and the questions necessary for
the passage of the bill are put forthwith. When a concluding time has been
specified for a bill in this way, this is regarded as overriding any
requirement that proceedings on the bill be interrupted under any other
procedure or that the question for the adjournment of the Senate be put at a
specified time. The other method is for a quantity of time to be allotted for
the consideration of a bill, in which case, when that amount of time has been
expended in considering the bill, the necessary questions are put by the chair.
This is the method now normally used. It has the advantage of not disrupting
other business. It is also possible to specify a time for commencement of
consideration of a bill, in which case the business before the Senate at that
time is interrupted and the Senate proceeds to consider the bill. An allotment
of time may employ a combination of these methods.
Because the
standing order allows a minister to move a motion or motions to allot time for
a bill at any time after a bill is declared urgent by the Senate, a minister
may at any time move a motion to extend the allotted time. Debate on a motion
for that purpose is subject to the time limits already determined (ruling of
President Cormack, 6/6/1973, J.264).
Since 1986 senators have placed on the
Notice Paper contingent notices of motion to allow
them to move for the suspension of standing orders to allow debate to take
place on the motion to have a bill declared an urgent bill, to remove or modify
the limitation of debate on the motion to allot time to an urgent bill, and to
extend the time available for a bill when the allotted time has expired
(4/6/1986, J.1060; 29/5/1987, J.1915, 1916; 3/6/1987, J.1952; 2/6/1988, J.823;
see Chapter 8, Conduct of Business, under Suspension of standing orders). These
notices of motion provide a means whereby the Senate can be asked to modify
significantly the operation of the urgent bills procedure, and they also
provide a minority with a means whereby an attempt by the majority to impose a
limitation on debate may be considerably disrupted. It has been ruled that
these contingent notices may be employed only once at each occurrence of the
contingency to which they refer (rulings of President Sibraa, 3/12/1991,
J.1826-7; 5/12/1991, J.1870-2; 9/12/1991, J.1886, 1893; a complete treatment of
these rulings is in Chapter 8, Conduct of Proceedings, under Suspension of
standing orders).
Prior to an amendment of standing order
142 in 1999, only government amendments were put and determined at the
expiration of allotted time; the amendment provided for all duly circulated
amendments to be dealt with, subject to the control of the chair as to how
amendments are put (see also Chapter 10, Debate, under Dividing the question).
Before the amendment of the standing order it had become the accepted practice
for non-government amendments to be put and determined, by leave or by a
suspension of the standing order, when the time for consideration of an urgent
bill had expired.
In normal
proceedings on bills a senator is not obliged to move an amendment which he or
she has circulated, but when duly circulated amendments are put at the
expiration of a time limitation, it is not open to a senator to withdraw a
circulated amendment; to allow this could deprive senators who wished to vote
for such an amendment of that opportunity (SD, 14/9/2005, p.137).
On occasions the
Senate has adopted a “civilised guillotine”, that is, time limits for the
consideration of legislation set by agreement between the various parties. On
one such occasion the motion to set the time limits was moved by the Leader of
the Opposition in the Senate (12/12/1996, J.1288-9). Special orders may be made prescribing
time limits for the consideration of bills (8/2/2006, J.1839; 12/10/2006, J.2799; 7/12/2006,
J.3299). (See Supplement)
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