Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation for requested amendment announced.

Bill returned from the Senate with a request for an amendment.

Mr SPEAKER —Before the House deals with the Senate's request, I should inform members that the question has been raised as to whether some of the amendments that the Senate has made to this bill should in fact have been made as requests. This raises again the difficult question of the third paragraph of section 53 of the constitution. In this particular case, as I understand it, the amendments in question affect eligibility for certain benefits. The effect of the amendments is that expenditure under a standing appropriation would be greater than it would be if the amendments were not made.

Nevertheless, it appears that if the amendments are made the expenditure will not be any greater than it would have been under the existing law for which appropriations have been made—that is, the burden on the people would not be any greater than it is under the status quo; it is just that the sum of the `savings' originally proposed in the bill will be reduced.

I think it is reasonable for the House to take the view that these particular Senate alterations can indeed be made as amendments and do not need to take the form of requests. This view is consistent with the view taken by members of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs in its major report on these provisions, which was presented in November 1995.

This point may also be relevant to some Senate amendments to other bills, including the Shipping Grants Legislation Bill 1996, which has been listed as the next item of business. Unless other factors are involved, I would not propose to comment on each such instance. For the information of members, I present a copy of the notes prepared by the Clerk of the House on the recent report of the Senate's Procedure Committee on these matters. The notes also, where relevant, comment on conclusions of the House's committee on the constitutional provisions.

Ordered that the requested amendment be taken into consideration forthwith.

Senate's requested amendment—

(1)   Schedule 1, item 2, page 3 (after line 23), at the end of subsection (6AA), add:

   ; or (c) holds or was the former holder of a subclass 826 visa—Interdependency; or

      (d) holds or was the former holder of a subclass 832 visa—Close ties; or

      (e) holds or was the former holder of a subclass 833 visa—certain unlawful citizens; or

      (f) holds or was the former holder of a visa that is in a class of visas determined by the Minister for the purposes of this paragraph.