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Thursday, 22 September 2011
Page: 6834

Senator KROGER (Victoria—Chief Opposition Whip in the Senate) (13:25): I, and also on behalf of Senator Macdonald, move:

That the Senate—

   (a)   regrets the Government's decision, in the context of the Joint Select Committee on Australia's Clean Energy Future Legislation, to depart from the historical convention which provides that the chair of a committee is a government nominee and the deputy chair of a committee is an Opposition nominee; and

   (b)   expresses concern regarding:

      (i)   the implication this committee membership structure has on the independence of the inquiry and its deliberations,

      (ii)   the short timeframe of 5 working days given for public submissions to the inquiry,

      (iii)   the limitations that this timeframe imposes on the members of the public to provide proper and considered preparations, and

      (iv)   the capacity of the committee to consider submissions and hold sufficient public hearings throughout metropolitan, regional and rural Australia, with an opportunity to engage Australians across all states.

Question put.

The Senate divided. [13:30]

(The President—Senator JJ Hogg)

Senator Wong did not vote, to compensate for the vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Coonan.

Question negatived.