Resolution of Appointment

The Committee is appointed by the House of Representatives under the following resolution of appointment:

1. a Select Committee on Intergenerational Welfare Dependence be established to inquire into and report on matters relating to welfare dependence of families and outcomes for children, and in conducting the inquiry, the committee:
   1. examine the reasons for welfare dependence, with particular focus on why some families require welfare assistance for short periods only and why others become ‘trapped’ in the system;
   2. consider:
      1. the factors preventing parents from gaining employment;
      2. the impact of intergenerational unemployment on children;
      3. the important role of parents as ‘first teachers’;
      4. a multi-generational approach which assists parents and their children together;
      5. the impact, if any, of welfare in creating disadvantage; and
      6. the impact of economic development in different locations and geography;
   3. recommend options for:
      1. breaking cycles of disadvantage;
      2. measuring the effectiveness of evidence-based interventions;
      3. the improvement of the financial capacity and security of families; and
      4. better coordinating services between tiers of government to support families; and
   4. consider any other related matter;
2. the committee present an interim report on or before 20 September 2018 and its final report on or before 12 April 2019;
3. the committee consist of eight members, five members to be nominated by the Government Whip or Whips, and two members nominated by the Opposition Whip or Whips and one non-aligned member;
4. every nomination of a member of the committee be notified in writing to the Speaker of the House of Representatives;
5. the members of the committee hold office as a select committee until presentation of the committee's final report or until the House of Representatives is dissolved or expires by effluxion of time, whichever is the earlier;
6. the committee elect a:
   1. Government member as its chair; and
   2. non-Government member as its deputy chair who shall act as chair of the committee at any time when the chair is not present at a meeting of the committee;
7. at any time when the chair and deputy chair are not present at a meeting of the committee the members present elect another member to act as chair at that meeting;
8. in the event of an equally divided vote, the chair, or deputy chair when acting as chair, have a casting vote;
9. three members of the committee constitute a quorum of the committee provided that in a deliberative meeting the quorum shall include one Government member and one non-Government member;
10. the committee have power to:
    1. appoint subcommittees consisting of three or more of its members, and to refer to any subcommittee any matter which the committee is empowered to examine; and
    2. appoint the chair of each subcommittee who shall have a casting vote only;
11. at any time when the chair of a subcommittee is not present at a meeting of the subcommittee, the members of the subcommittee present shall elect another member of that subcommittee to act as chair at that meeting;
12. two members of a subcommittee constitute the quorum of that subcommittee, provided that in a deliberative meeting the quorum shall include one Government member and one non-Government member;
13. members of the committee who are not members of a subcommittee may participate in the proceedings of that subcommittee but shall not vote, move any motion or be counted for the purpose of a quorum;
14. the committee or any subcommittee have power to:
    1. call for witnesses to attend and for documents to be produced;
    2. conduct proceedings at any place it sees fit;
    3. sit in public or in private;
    4. report from time to time, in order to progress constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; and
    5. adjourn from time to time and sit during any adjournment of the House of Representatives, and;
15. the provisions of this resolution, so far as they are inconsistent with the standing orders, have effect notwithstanding anything contained in the standing orders.