Resolution of Appointment

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

(1) a joint select committee, to be known as the Joint Select Committee on the Aboriginal and Torres 
Strait Islander Voice Referendum, be appointed to inquire into and report on the provisions of the 
bill introduced by the Government to be submitted to a referendum on the Aboriginal and Torres 
Strait Islander Voice;
(2) the committee consist of 13 members, four Members of the House of Representatives to be 
nominated by the Government Whip or Whips, two Members of the House of Representatives to 
be nominated by the Opposition Whip or Whips, one Member of the House of Representatives 
nominated by any minority group or independent Member, three Senators to be nominated by the 
Leader of the Government in the Senate, two Senators to be nominated by the Leader of the 
Opposition in the Senate and one Senator to be nominated by the Leader of the Australian Greens 
in the Senate;
(3) every nomination of a member be notified in writing to the President of the Senate and the 
Speaker of the House of Representatives;
(4) in the event that a House is not sitting and is not expected to meet for at least two weeks, the 
relevant whip in the House of Representatives, the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the 
Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, minority groups or independent Senators may nominate 
any appointment or discharge of a member of the committee in writing to the relevant Presiding 
Officer. The change in membership shall take effect from the time the Presiding Officer received 
the written nomination. At the next sitting, the Presiding Officer shall report the change to the 
relevant House and the House shall resolve that membership of the committee;
(5) the persons appointed for the time being to serve on the committee shall constitute the committee 
notwithstanding any failure by the Senate or the House of Representatives to appoint the full 
number of Senators or Members referred to in this resolution;
(6) the members of the committee hold office as a joint select committee until presentation of the 
committee’s report;
(7) the committee present its report no later than 15 May 2023;
(8) the committee elect a Government member as its chair;
(9) the committee elect a non-Government member as its deputy chair to act as chair of the committee 
at any time when the chair is not present at a meeting of the committee;
(10) at any time when the chair and deputy chair are not present at a meeting of the committee, the 
members present shall elect another member to act as chair at that meeting;
(11) the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, shall have a deliberative vote and, in the event 
votes are equally divided, a casting vote;
(12) three members of the committee constitute a quorum of the committee, provided that in a 
deliberative meeting the quorum shall include one Government member of either House and one 
non-Government member of either House;
(13) the committee have power to 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;
(14) the committee appoint the chair of each subcommittee who shall have a deliberative vote but no 
casting vote, and 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;
(15) the quorum of a subcommittee be two members of that subcommittee provided that in a 
deliberative meeting the quorum shall include one Government member of either House and one 
non-Government member of either House;
(16) 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;
(17) the committee or any subcommittee has power to:
(a) call for witnesses to attend and for documents to be produced;
(b) conduct proceedings at any place it sees fit;
(c) sit in public or in private;
(d) report from time to time; and
(e) adjourn from time to time and to sit during any adjournment of the Senate or the House of 
Representatives; and
(18) a message be sent to the Senate acquainting it of this resolution and requesting that it concur and 
take action accordingly.