That a
select committee, to be known as the Select Committee on Fuel and Energy, be
established to inquire into and report by 30 August 2010 on:
- the impact of higher fuel and energy prices on:
- families,
- small business,
- rural and regional Australia,
- grocery prices, and
- key industries, including but not
- limited to tourism and transport;
- the role and activities of the Petrol
Commissioner, including whether the Petrol Commissioner reduces the price of
petroleum;
- the operation of the domestic energy
markets, and petroleum, diesel and gas markets, including the fostering of
maximum competition and provision of consumer information;
- the impact of an emissions trading
scheme on the fuel and energy industry, including but not limited to:
- prices,
- employment in the fuel and energy industries, and any related adverse impacts on regional centres reliant on these industries,
- domestic energy supply, and
- future investment in fuel and energy infrastructure;
- the existing set of federal and state
government regulatory powers as they relate to fuel and energy products;
-
taxation arrangements on fuel and
energy products including:
- Commonwealth excise,
- the goods and services tax, and
- new state and federal taxes;
- the role of alternative sources of
energy to coal and alternative fuels to petroleum and diesel, including but not
limited to: LPG, LNG, CNG, gas to liquids, coal to liquids, electricity and
bio-fuels such as, but not limited to, ethanol;
- domestic energy supply and the domestic
oil/gas exploration and refinement industry, with particular reference to:
- the impact of Commonwealth, state and
local government regulations on these industries,
- increasing domestic oil/gas exploration
and refinement activities, with a view to reducing Australia's reliance on
imported oil,
- other tax incentives, and
- securing Australia's future domestic
energy supply;
- the impact of higher petroleum, diesel
and gas prices on public transport systems, including the adequacy of public
transport infrastructure and record of public transport investment by state
governments; and
- any related matters.
That the committee consist of 8
members, 2 nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate, 4 nominated
by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, 1 nominated by the Leader of
Family First in the Senate and 1 nominated by any minority group or independent
senator.
- on the nominations of the Leader of the
Government in the Senate, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and any
minority group and independent senators, participating members may be appointed
to the committee;
- participating members may participate
in hearings of evidence and deliberations of the committee, and have all the
rights of members of committee, but may not vote on any questions before the
committee; and
- a participating member shall be taken
to be a member of the committee for the purpose of forming a quorum of the
committee if a majority of members of the committee is not present.
That the committee may proceed to
the dispatch of business notwithstanding that not all members have been duly
nominated and appointed and notwithstanding any vacancy.
That the committee elect an
Opposition member as its chair.
That the chair of the committee
may, from time to time, appoint another member of the committee to be the
deputy chair of the committee, and that the member so appointed act as chair of
the committee at any time when there is no chair or the chair is not present at
a meeting of the committee.
That, in the event of an equally
divided vote, the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, have a
casting vote.
That the committee have power to
appoint subcommittees consisting of 4 or more of its members and to refer to
any subcommittee any matter which the committee is empowered to examine.
That the committee and any
subcommittee have power to send for and examine persons and documents, to move
from place to place, to sit in public or in private, notwithstanding any
prorogation of the Parliament or dissolution of the House of Representatives,
and have leave to report from time to time its proceedings and the evidence taken
and interim recommendations.
That the committee be provided
with all necessary staff, facilities and resources and be empowered to appoint
persons with specialist knowledge for the purposes of the committee with the
approval of the President.
That the committee be empowered
to print from day to day such documents and evidence as may be ordered by it,
and a daily Hansard be published of such proceedings as take place in public.
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