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Committees - Estimates Committee & Government Owned Corporations Scrutiny Committee
Please note that the membership of the committee is the same as the Public Accounts Committee.
ESTIMATES COMMITTEE AND GOVERNMENT OWNED CORPORATIONS SCRUTINY COMMITTEES 2012-13 – TERMS OF REFERENCE
On 2 May 2012, the Legislative Assembly passed the following resolutions establishing the committees:
The Legislative Assembly resolves that:
A. INTRODUCTION
1. Notwithstanding anything contained in Standing and Sessional Orders, there be appointed an Estimates Committee of the Legislative Assembly (the Committee) for the purposes of examining and reporting on the estimates of proposed expenditure contained in the Appropriation (2012-2013) Bill 2012 and related budget documents.
2. The Appropriation (2012-2013) Bill 2012 (the Bill) and related budget documents be referred to the Committee at the conclusion of the Treasurer’s second reading speech.
3. The Committee may not vote on but may examine and report on the proposed expenditure contained in the Bill by no later than 21 June 2012.
4. That the Committee examine the proposed expenditure contained in the Bill by portfolio units in accordance with the schedule to be published by the Committee and that the proposed expenditure be considered on an output by output basis for each portfolio unit.
B. MEMBERSHIP
5. The membership of the Committee shall consist of the membership of the Public Accounts Committee, subject to paragraph 34.
6. The Chair of the Public Accounts Committee shall be the Chair of the Estimates Committee.
7. The Committee, before the commencement of business, shall elect one of its members to be Deputy Chair.
8. Members of the Assembly who are not Members of the Committee may participate in public hearings of the Committee, provided that at any time participating Members are limited to seven Members comprising the Chair, two Government Members, three Opposition Members and one Independent Member.
9. Members of the Assembly who are not Members of the Committee may not vote on any matters before the Committee.
10. The Committee may proceed with business despite a vacancy in its membership.
11. The Chair of the Committee and the Deputy Chair when acting as Chair shall have a deliberative and a casting vote.
12. The quorum of the Committee is to be 4 of the members of the Committee.
13. If at any time a quorum is not present, the Chair will suspend proceedings of the Committee until a quorum is present, or adjourn the Committee until a time and date to be fixed.
C. SITTING TIMES
14. Unless otherwise ordered by the Committee, the Committee shall sit on the following days:
(a) Tuesday, 12 June 2012;
(b) Wednesday, 13 June 2012;
(c) Thursday, 14 June 2012;
(d) Tuesday, 19 June 2012;
(e) Wednesday, 20 June 2012; and
(f) Thursday, 21 June 2012.
15. The Committee shall publish a schedule of the times allotted for hearing from Ministers, the Speaker and the Government Owned Corporation.
16. The maximum time of the appearance of each of the Chief Minister and the Treasurer shall be 8 hours and for each other Minister, the Speaker and Government Owned Corporation shall be 7 hours; and the maximum total time for hearings of the Estimates and Government Owned Scrutiny Committees hearings shall be 60 hours; and
17. The Committee may sit only when the Assembly is not sitting.
D. HEARING PROCEDURE
18. All hearings of the Committee are open to the public unless the Committee orders otherwise.
19. The Committee will consider proposed expenditure by outputs, following procedures agreed to by the Committee in accordance with the other provisions of this Order and Standing Orders.
20. Unless the Committee otherwise determines, the Minister or the Speaker may make an opening statement lasting up to five minutes, which may be extended with the leave of the Committee.
21. Members of the Committee may ask for explanations from a Minister or the Speaker relating to proposed expenditure and outputs.
22. An initial question should be directed to the Minister or the Speaker in the first instance and then officers of the relevant departments may provide assistance in providing information. Ministers or the Speaker may defer to the Chief Executive (who may defer to another officer) who may then be directly questioned on subsequent questions on the same subject. If a question is ruled by the Chair as not appropriate for an officer to answer, the Minister or the Speaker may choose to provide information or take such matters on notice.
23. Officers may answer questions at the request of the Minister or the Speaker, but shall not be required to comment on policy matters, including giving an opinion, and the Minister, the Speaker or Chief Executive may at any time intervene and answer questions that are asked of departmental officers.
24. All questions should conform to Standing Orders 112, 113 and 114 (general rules for questions).
E. QUESTIONS TAKEN ON NOTICE AT HEARINGS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
25. The Minister or the Speaker may advise the Committee that an answer to a question or part of a question will be provided later to the Committee. At that time the Chair shall note the question or that part of the question taken on notice and any clarification required. The text of questions on notice will be distributed to the Minister or the Speaker by the Committee Secretariat.
26. A Minister or the Speaker may also give the Committee additional information about an answer given by them or on their behalf.
27. The additional information or answer is to be written and given by a time decided by the Committee and may be presented to the Assembly in accordance with Standing Order 280 by the Chair of the Committee at the time of its report, or at a later date, which shall be no later than 20 July 2012, and may be authorised for publication by the Committee prior to that material being tabled in the Assembly.
F. HANSARD REPORT AND OTHER TABLED DOCUMENTS
28. The Clerk of the Legislative Assembly is authorised to publish a transcript of the Committee proceedings, whether or not it has been edited, in a manner similar to that used for the daily Hansard as soon as practicable after the Committee’s proceedings are concluded.
29. Evidence taken in public by the Committee and documents presented to the Committee are deemed to be authorised for publication by the Committee, unless the Committee otherwise orders.
G. BROADCASTING AND TELEVISING OF PROCEEDINGS
30. Sound and vision may be broadcast and re-broadcast of the hearings of the Committee, subject to the same conditions which apply to the sittings of the Assembly and as determined by the Committee.
H. DISORDER
31. At a hearing of the Committee, the Chair may, after a warning, order any Member of the Assembly whose conduct, in the opinion of the Chair, continues to be disorderly or disruptive to withdraw from the Committee for a period of 1 hour.
32. A member ordered to withdraw by the Chair must immediately withdraw for the stated period.
33. If a Member persistently disrupts the business of the Committee, the Chair may name the Member and:
(a) If the Member named is a member of the Committee, suspend the sittings until the Chair has reported the offence to the Speaker; or
(b) If the Member named is not a member of the Committee, order that the Member withdraw from the sittings of the Committee until the Chair has reported the offence to the Speaker.
34. On the naming of a Member:
(a) The Chair shall advise the Speaker of the Naming of a Member as soon as practicable.
(b) If the Member named was a Member of the Committee, the Speaker shall declare that the Member named is no longer a Member of the Committee and give notice to that effect to the Member, the Chief Minister, Leader of the Opposition and Chair of the Committee and:
(i) if the named Member was a Government Member, ask the Chief Minister to nominate a Government Member to the Committee or,
(ii) if the Member was an Opposition Member, ask the Leader of the Opposition to nominate an Opposition Member to the Committee.
(c) Any such change to the Estimates Committee membership also applies to the Government Owned Corporations Committee but does not affect the membership of the Public Accounts Committee.
(d) If the Member named was not a Member of the Committee, the Speaker shall declare that the Member may no long participate in the proceedings of the Estimates or Government Owned Corporations Committees and give notice to that effect to the Member, the Chief Minister, Leader of the Opposition and Chair of the Committee.
35. If any objection is taken to a ruling or decision of the Chair:
(a) the objection must be taken at once and stated in writing;
(b) the Chair, as soon as practicable, shall advise the Speaker who shall make a ruling on the matter; and
(c) the Committee may continue to meet but not further examine the matter then under consideration and which is the subject of the objection.
I. REPORT OF ESTIMATES COMMITTEE
36. A report of the Committee will be presented by the Chair to the Committee-of-the-Whole Assembly and the report should contain any resolution or expression of opinion of the Committee.
37. When the report of the Committee is presented it shall be considered forthwith, together with the Report of the Government Owned Corporations Scrutiny Committee.
38. The following time limits shall apply to consideration of the reports of the Committees on the question:
“that the proposed expenditure be agreed to and that the resolutions or expressions of opinion as agreed to by the Committee in relation to the proposed expenditure or outputs under the Appropriation (2012-2013) Bill, and the transactions of public sector entities included in the Budget Papers and applicable Community Service Obligations paid to and dividends received from the Power and Water Corporation, be noted.”
- Ministers, Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Ministers: 20 minutes;
- Any other Member: 10 minutes,
- The maximum period for consideration shall be 5 hours.
39. When the consideration of the reports of the Committees has been completed the following question is proposed and put forthwith:“that the remainder of the Bill be agreed to”.
40. When the Bill has been agreed to by the Committee-of-the-Whole and reported to the Assembly, the third reading may be taken into consideration forthwith.
GOVERNMENT OWNED CORPORATIONS SCRUTINY COMMITTEE 2012‑13
TERMS OF REFERENCE
The Legislative Assembly resolves that:
A. INTRODUCTION
1. Notwithstanding anything contained in Standing and Sessional Orders, there be appointed a Committee of the Legislative Assembly to be known as the Government Owned Corporations Scrutiny Committee (the Committee) for the purpose of examining and reporting on the activities, performance, practices and financial management of the Power and Water Corporation, a Government Owned Corporation under the Government Owned Corporations Act, with reference to the Power and Water Corporation’s Statement of Corporate Intent for 2012-13.
B. MEMBERSHIP
2. The membership of the Government Owned Corporations Scrutiny Committee shall consist of the membership of the Public Accounts Committee, subject to paragraph 29.
3. The Chair of the Public Accounts Committee shall be the Chair of the Government Owned Corporations Scrutiny Committee.
4. The Committee, before the commencement of business, shall elect one of its members to be Deputy Chair.
5. Members of the Assembly who are not Members of the Committee may participate in public hearings of the Committee, provided that at any time participating Members are limited to seven Members comprising the Chair, two Government Members, three Opposition Members and one Independent Member.
6. Members of the Assembly who are not Members of the Committee may not vote on any matters before the Committee.
7. The Committee may proceed with business despite a vacancy in its membership.
8. The Chair of the Committee and the Deputy Chair when acting as Chair shall have a deliberative and a casting vote.
9. The quorum of the Committee is to be 4 of the members of the Committee.
10.If at any time a quorum is not present, the Chair will suspend proceedings of the Committee until a quorum is present, or adjourn the Committee until a time and date to be fixed.
C. SITTING TIMES
11. The Committee will meet in accordance with the dates and times in the Schedule published by the Committee and advised by the Chair.
12. The Government Owned Corporations Scrutiny Committee may sit only when the Assembly is not sitting.
13. Unless otherwise ordered by the Committee, the Committee shall sit on Thursday 21 June 2012.
D. HEARING PROCEDURE
14. All hearings of the Committee are open to the public unless the Committee orders otherwise.
15. The Committee will examine the financial and budgetary activities of the Power and Water Corporation following similar procedures to that of the Estimates Committee and in accordance with the provisions of this Order and Standing Orders.
16. Unless the Committee otherwise determines, the Ministers and Chairman of the Board of the Power and Water Corporation (Board Chairman) may make an opening statement lasting up to five minutes, which may be extended with the leave of the Committee.
E. QUESTIONS
17. Questions shall be put directly to either the Portfolio Minister, the Shareholding Minister or the Board Chairman. The Managing Director and other officers may assist the Board Chairman in the provision of relevant information. Otherwise, questions shall adhere with the general terms and conditions applying to questioning of the Estimates Committee at paragraphs 22, 23 and 24.
18. The Board Chairman or other witnesses will advise when evidence is of a commercially sensitive or confidential nature and may request that such evidence be heard in camera. The Chair of the Committee will invite the Board Chairman or the witnesses to give the reasons for the request.
19. Questions and explanations should be brief and avoid irrelevance and tedious repetition.
QUESTIONS TAKEN ON NOTICE AT HEARINGS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
20. The Minister or Board Chairman may advise the Committee that an answer to a question or part of a question will be provided later to the Committee. At that time the Chair shall note the question or that part of the question taken on notice and any clarification required. The text of questions on notice will be distributed to the Minister or Board Chairman by the Committee Secretariat.
21. A Minister or Board Chairman may also give the Committee additional information about an answer given by them or on their behalf.
22. The additional information or answer is to be written and given by a time decided by the Committee and may be presented to the Assembly in accordance with Standing Order 280 by the Chair at the time of its report, or at a later date, which shall be no later than 20 July 2012, and may be authorised for publication by the Committee prior to that material being tabled in the Assembly.
F. HANSARD REPORT AND OTHER TABLED DOCUMENTS
23. The Clerk of the Legislative Assembly is authorised to publish a transcript of the Committee proceedings, whether or not it has been edited, in a manner similar to that used for the daily Hansard as soon as practicable after the Committee’s proceedings are concluded.
24. Evidence taken in public by the Committee and documents presented to the Committee are deemed to be authorised for publication by the Committee, unless the Committee otherwise orders.
G. BROADCASTING AND TELEVISING OF PROCEEDINGS
25. Sound and vision may be broadcast and re-broadcast of the hearings of the Committee, subject to the same conditions which apply to the sittings of the Assembly and as determined by the Committee.
H. DISORDER
26. At a hearing of the Committee, the Chair may, after a warning, order any Member of the Assembly whose conduct, in the opinion of the Chair, continues to be disorderly or disruptive to withdraw from the Committee for a period of 1 hour.
27. A member ordered to withdraw by the Chair must immediately withdraw for the stated period.
28. If a Member persistently disrupts the business of the Committee, the Chair may name the Member and:
(a) If the Member named is a member of the Committee, suspend the sittings until the Chair has reported the offence to the Speaker; or
(b) If the Member named is not a member of the Committee, order that the Member withdraw from the sittings of the Committee until the Chair has reported the offence to the Speaker.
29. On the naming of a Member:
(a) The Chair shall advise the Speaker of the Naming of a Member as soon as practicable.
(b) If the Member named was a Member of the Committee, the Speaker shall declare that the Member named is no longer a Member of the Committee and give notice to that effect to the Member, the Chief Minister, Leader of the Opposition and Chair of the Committee and:
(i) if the named Member was a Government Member, ask the Chief Minister to nominate a Government Member to the Committee or,
(ii) if the Member was an Opposition Member, ask the Leader of the Opposition to nominate an Opposition Member to the Committee.
(c) Any such change to the Government Owned Corporations Committee membership also applies to the Estimates Committee but does not affect the membership of the Public Accounts Committee.
(d) If the Member named was not a Member of the Committee, the Speaker shall declare that the Member may no longer participate in the proceedings of the Estimates or Government Owned Corporations Committees and give notice to that effect to the Member, the Chief Minister, Leader of the Opposition and Chair of the Committee.
30. If any objection is taken to a ruling or decision of the Chair:
(a) the objection must be taken at once and stated in writing;
(b) the Chair, as soon as practicable, shall advise the Speaker who shall make a ruling on the matter; and
(c) the Committee may continue to meet but not further examine the matter then under consideration and which is the subject of the objection.
I. REPORT OF GOVERNMENT OWNED CORPORATIONS SCRUTINY COMMITTEE
31. A report of the Committee will be presented by the Chair to the Committee-of-the-Whole Assembly and the report should contain any resolution or expression of opinion of the Committee.
32. When the report of the Committee is presented it shall be considered forthwith, together with the Report of the Estimates Committee.
33. The following time limits shall apply to consideration of the reports of the Committees on the question:
“that the proposed expenditure be agreed to and that the resolutions or expressions of opinion as agreed to by the Committee in relation to the proposed expenditure or outputs under the Appropriation (2012-2013) Bill, and the transactions of public sector entities included in the Budget Papers and applicable Community Service Obligations paid to and dividends received from the Power and Water Corporation, be noted.”
- Ministers, Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Ministers: 20 minutes;
- Any other Member: 10 minutes,
- The maximum period for consideration shall be 5 hours.
Contact Details
Mr Russell Keith
Clerk Assistant - Committees
GPO Box 3721
DARWIN NT 0801
Telephone:
(08) 8946 1429
|Fax (08) 8946 1419
Email: russell.keith@nt.gov.au