Procedure Committee First Report of 2012


Procedure Committee First Report of 2012

Attachment B - Changes to the printed Notice Paper

Background

Changes are proposed to the printed Notice Paper in order to contain printing costs. The full Notice Paper will continue to be accessible online from the Senate home page as a pdf document.

The Notice paper and the standing orders

The following standing orders affect the Notice Paper:

25(11)            notices of motion for reference to the legislative and general purpose standing committees shall be placed on the Notice Paper as business of the Senate and, as such, take precedence over government and general business for that day

41                    lists of all committees, of the matters referred to them and of their reports shall be published in the Notice Paper (NB, we also include membership)

43                    business before the Senate shall be placed on the Notice Paper in accordance with the standing orders, and the Notice Paper shall be published**

58                    defines business of the Senate, to be placed on the Notice Paper and to have precedence of government and general business

61                    orders of the day for the consideration of government documents remain on the Notice Paper until disposed of (including by discharging from the Notice Paper)

62                    reports of the Auditor-General and orders of the day for their consideration are placed on the Notice Paper for consideration on Thursdays

65                    Ministers may arrange the order of government business on the Notice Paper as they think fit

66                    formal motions shall be disposed of in the order in which they stand on the Notice Paper (not followed)

68                    interrupted business is placed on the Notice Paper for the next sitting day

73                    questions not to anticipate discussion of an order of the day or other matter which appears on the Notice Paper

74                    Clerk to place questions on notice on the Notice Paper in the order in which they are received (NB when answered, question and reply shall be printed in Hansard)

76                    Clerk to enter notices of motion on the Notice Paper in the order they are delivered to the table

80                    motions to be called on in the order they appear on the Notice Paper and, if not reached, to be set down on the Notice Paper for the next sitting

83                    if a senator fails to move a motion when it is called on, it shall be withdrawn from the Notice Paper

97                    orders of the day to be called on in the order they appear on the Notice Paper and, if not reached or determined, to be set down on the Notice Paper as business for the next sitting

136                 sets out conditions under which a lapsed bill may be restored to the Notice Paper

194                 the anticipation rule in debate: a senator shall not anticipate discussion of a matter on the Notice Paper (unless it has not been discussed during the preceding 4 weeks)\

** the form of publication is not prescribed; by virtue of this standing order, the Notice Paper is published pursuant to an order of the Senate and therefore attracts parliamentary privilege as a proceeding in parliament under paragraph 16(2)(d) of the Parliamentary Privileges Act 1987.

Proposed reductions in the printed version of the Notice Paper

Except for the first day of the autumn and spring sittings, the current printed Notice Paper represents only part of the business before the Senate. This has been the case since the early 1990s. Since the creation of the aph website, the full Notice Paper has been published online and there will be no change to this practice.

Printing costs can be halved (saving more than $30,000 per year) if the printed Notice Paper contains the following excerpts from the full Notice Paper only:

  • business for “today”; that is:
    • notices of motion and orders of the day in each category (matters of privilege, business of the Senate, government business, general business)
    • any government documents on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (for 6.50 pm consideration)
    • on Thursdays:
      • private senators’ bills
      • government documents, committee reports, government responses to committee reports and Auditor-General’s reports (for general business etc)
  • business for future consideration (showing committee reports due, bills becoming available for debate, orders for documents due, notices given for a date in the future etc)
  • list of bills referred to committees
  • new questions on notice and the question numbers for those unanswered after 30 days
  • deadline dates for estimates questions on notice
  • orders of the Senate (minus orders for production of documents which will be in business for future consideration)
  • contingent notices
  • temporary chairs of committee
  • categories of committees (committee names, by category)
  • ministerial representation
  • a much shorter guide to the Notice Paper explaining what is available online
  • calendar of sitting days.

The following material will be in the online version only:

  • bills discharged or negatived
  • all unanswered questions on notice
  • committees (individual listings with membership, current inquiries, reports presented)*
  • Senate appointments to statutory authorities
  • outstanding orders for production of documents*
  • new business from the previous day unless it is required for the current day (for example, reports and documents taken note of for consideration on Thursdays)

* these categories account for the bulk of envisaged savings

 

Clerk's Office
June 2012

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