Download Word

House of Representatives                                Ch 12                                                 p 432

Senate amendments

When a bill which the Senate may amend is amended by the Senate, a schedule of the amendments is prepared indicating where the amendments occur in the bill and detailing the amendments. This schedule is attached to the bill, certified by the Clerk of the Senate and transmitted to the House by message. Several related bills have been returned with amendments under cover of the one message and the amendments to each bill have been considered separately. ¹ An amendment to the title of a bill is normally mentioned in a Senate message. ²

The standing orders provide that if a House bill is returned from the Senate with amendments, the amendments shall be made available to Members and a time set for the House to consider them. ³ The amendments are printed as a schedule; the bill is not reprinted with the amendments incorporated. A suggestion that a bill be reprinted incorporating Senate amendments has been rejected. ⁴ In practice a printed stock of the schedule of Senate amendments accompanies the message, in which case the consideration of the Senate’s amendments may take place immediately. ⁵ It may not, however, suit the convenience of the House to proceed immediately with consideration of the amendments and a Minister (or Parliamentary Secretary) may move that the amendments be taken into consideration at the next sitting or at a later hour. ⁶

Procedures for the consideration of Senate amendments are similar to those applying during the consideration in detail stage—speeches are limited to five minutes and the number of times a Member may speak is not restricted, and a motion moved (including an amendment) need not be seconded. ⁷

It was originally the practice for Senate amendments to be taken clause by clause. However, it is now established practice for multiple amendments to a bill to be taken together, by the Minister or Parliamentary Secretary in charge of the bill moving that the amendments be agreed to or that the amendments be disagreed to. If the Minister is prepared to accept only some of the amendments, they are grouped accordingly and the relevant motion moved in respect of each group. A motion may be moved separately in respect of an individual amendment—for example, if the Minister is aware that Members desire a separate vote on a particular matter. Whether amendments are to be taken together or separately is decided by arrangements of which the Chair has no knowledge; he or she puts the proposed order or grouping in accordance with the motion expected to be moved. ⁸ If the proposed order or grouping is challenged, a motion may be moved—for example, that the amendments be considered together and one question put on them. ⁹ By agreement of the House, the amendments may be considered in specified groups and a specified order other than their numerical order. ¹⁰ When the House’s consideration of Senate amendments has been subject to a guillotine motion, the grouping of amendments has been determined by the decision of the House on the allotment of time. ¹¹ Standing orders have been suspended to permit Senate amendments to related bills (under cover of separate messages) to be considered together and for one motion to be moved in respect of all the amendments. ¹²

A Senate amendment may be agreed to with or without amendment, agreed to with a consequential amendment, ¹³ agreed to in part with a consequential amendment, ¹⁴ agreed to with a modification, agreed to with a modification and a consequential amendment, ¹⁵ disagreed to, ¹⁶ or disagreed to but an amendment made in its place. ¹⁷ An amendment to a Senate amendment may be made, as long as it is relevant to the Senate amendment. ¹⁸ A motion to agree to a Senate amendment has been withdrawn, by leave. ¹⁹

As an alternative to the House considering Senate amendments, consideration may be postponed, or the bill may be laid aside. ²⁰

When the House agrees without amendment to Senate amendments to a House bill, a message is sent to the Senate (without the bill) informing it that the House has agreed to the amendment made by the Senate in the bill. ²¹

If amendments to Senate amendments are agreed to by the House, the House sends a message returning the bill with a schedule of the House amendments and asking the Senate to agree to the House amendments. ²² The schedule contains reference to each amendment of the Senate which has been amended by the House, and is certified by the Clerk. The message also indicates that the House desires the reconsideration of the bill by the Senate in respect of any amendments disagreed to. ²³ If a Senate amendment has been disagreed to and no amendment made in its place, a message is sent to the Senate informing it that the House has disagreed to the amendment for the reasons ( see below ) indicated in a schedule annexed to the bill and desires the reconsideration by the Senate of the bill in respect of the amendment. ²⁴ It has not been the practice to send messages to the Senate when bills have been laid aside.

The Senate has agreed not to insist on amendments disagreed to by the House, but has made a further amendment which has been agreed to by the House. ²⁵

VP 1932-34/350-2.

VP 1913/193, 195.

S.O. 158(a).

H.R. Deb. (20.6.50) 4517-18.

VP 1996-98/357-8.

VP 1996-98/279.

S.O. 159.

H.R. Deb. (8.12.87) 3004-5;VP 1998-2001/510-11.

VP 1998-2001/2004

VP 1974-75/483; VP 1996-98/2968-9; and see VP 2002-04/672, 678.

VP 1993-95/1886.

VP 1998-2001/658 (4 bills), 684 (7 bills), 699-700 (4 bills).

VP 1974-75/837; VP 1996-98/1267.

VP 1906/159.

VP 1909/222-3.

VP 1996-98/289;VP 1998-2001/176.

VP 1993-5/849-54;VP 1998-2001/510; VP 2002-04/457 (motion to disagree to Senate amendments and make other amendments in their place moved by opposition Member and agreed to).

S.O. 158(b)(ii). E.g. VP 1990-93/1107-10; VP 1996-98/3149.

VP 1910/84.

S.O. 158(b). A new bill may be introduced in place of a bill laid aside—Committee of Public Accounts Bill (No.2) 1913, VP 1913/215, H.R. Deb. (16.12.13) 4505-7.

S.O. 161(a); J 1996-98/360; J 1998-2001/2257.

S.O. 161(b).

J 1974-75/752; 1993-95/2344.

S.O. 161(c); J 1974-75/752;VP 1996-98/289-91; J 1996-98/387, 431 (reasons not recorded in Journals).

VP 2002-04/1396.