COMMITTEES

Senator DAVID POCOCK (Australian Capital Territory—Independent ACT Whip) (15:36): I move: (1) That a select committee, to be known as the Select Committee on the Personal Staffing of Parliamentarians, be established to inquire into and report on: (a) the adequacy, transparency and fairness of the current arrangements governing the allocation of personal staff, resources and entitlements to senators and members of the Parliament of Australia; (b) the appropriateness of any arrangements to allocate personal staff, resources or entitlements to senators or members, or to parties or groups represented in the Parliament, in connection with the consideration or passage of legislation, including but not limited to recent public reporting concerning negotiations between parties in relation to the Freedom of Information Amendment Bill 2025; (c) whether the offering, discussion or alteration of personal staffing arrangements with parliamentary votes or legislative negotiations could constitute conduct warranting referral to the Senate Standing Committee of Privileges; (d) the implications for parliamentary integrity, public confidence in and the proper functioning of the Parliament where personal staffing allocations, resources or entitlements may be perceived as providing a personal or political benefit linked to parliamentary decision making; (e) options for establishing more transparent, independent or rules based mechanisms for determining personal staffing allocations, resources and entitlements for senators and members, including arrangements that ensure equitable treatment of government, opposition, minor party and independent parliamentarian; and (f) any other related matters.

(2) That the committee present its final report by 7 September 2026. (3) That the committee consist of 6 senators, as follows: (a) two nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate; (b) two nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate; (c) one nominated by the Leader of the Australian Greens; and (d) one nominated by minority party or independent senators.

(4) That: (a) 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 party or independent senator; (b) 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 (c) a participating member shall be taken to be a member of a committee for the purpose of forming a quorum of the committee if a majority of members of the committee is not present.

(5) That the committee may proceed to the dispatch of business notwithstanding that all members have not been duly nominated and appointed and notwithstanding any vacancy. (6) That the committee elect as chair a member nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and, as deputy chair, a member nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate.

(7) That the deputy chair 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 the committee 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 such interim recommendations as it may deem fit.

(11) 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. (12) 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.