Role of the Committee

1. That   a   select   committee,   to   be   known   as   the   Select   Committee   on Unconventional Gas Mining, be established to inquire into and report on or before 30 June 2016, on the following matter:
   
   The adequacy of Australia‘s legislative, regulatory and policy framework for unconventional gas mining including coal seam gas (CSG) and shale gas mining, with reference to:
   
   1. a national approach to the conduct of unconventional gas mining in Australia;
   2. the health, social, business, agricultural, environmental, landholder and economic impacts of unconventional gas  mining;
   3. government  and  non-Government  services  and  assistance  for  those affected;
   4. compensation and insurance arrangements;
   5. compliance and penalty arrangements;
   6. harmonisation  of  federal  and  state/territory  government   legislation, regulations and  policies;
   7. legislative and regulatory frameworks for unconventional gas mining in comparable overseas  jurisdictions;
   8. the unconventional gas industry in Australia as an energy provider;
   9. the   current   royalty   and   taxation   arrangements   associated   with unconventional gas mining; and
   10. any related matter.
2. That the committee consist of 6 senators, 2 nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate, 2 nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, 1  nominated by the  Leader of the  Australian Greens, and Senator Lazarus.
3. That:
1. participating  members  may  be  appointed  to  the  committee  on  the nomination of the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Leader of the  Opposition  in  the  Senate  or  any  minority  groups  or  independent  senators;
2. participating  members  may  participate  in  hearings  of  evidence  and deliberations of the committee, and have all the rights of members of the committee, but may not vote on any questions before the committee;  and
3. 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.
4. That every nomination of a member of the committee be notified in writing to the President of the Senate.
5. 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.
6. That Senator Lazarus is appointed chair.
7. That the committee elect a member as its deputy chair, who shall act as chair when the chair is absent from a meeting of the committee or the position of chair is temporarily vacant.
8. That the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, may appoint another member of the committee to act as chair during the temporary absence of both the chair and deputy chair at a meeting of the committee.
9. That, in the event of an equally divided vote, the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, have a casting vote.
10. That 3 members of the committee constitute a quorum of the committee.
11. That the committee have power to appoint subcommittees consisting of 2 or more of its members, and to refer to any such subcommittee any of the matters which the committee is empowered to examine.
12. That 2 members of a subcommittee constitute a quorum of that subcommittee.
13. That 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. 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, the evidence taken and such interim recommendations as it may deem  fit.
15. 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.
16. That the committee be empowered to print from day to day such papers and evidence as may be ordered by it, and a daily Hansard be published of such proceedings as take place in public.