STANDING ORDERS (AMENDMENT)

6.06 p.m.

The Minister for Law and National Development (Mr E. W. Barker): Sir, I beg to move the motion standing in my name, namely,

That this Parliament resolves that the amendments set out in Appendix I to the Report of the Standing Orders Committee as contained in Paper Parl. 4 of 1970 be and are hereby made to the Standing Orders of Parliament.

Sir, at the sitting of Parliament on the 27th January this year, a resolution was passed empowering the Standing Orders Committee of this House to consider and report on any amendments to the Standing Orders of Parliament which the Committee may deem necessary. I am glad to state that the Committee has submitted its Report to this House and has recommended that the amendments set out in Appendix 1 thereto be made to the present Standing Orders of Parliament.

Sir, one of the principal amendments recommended concerns the procedure for dealing with a Bill which may be adversely reported upon by the Presidential Council. Article 81K of the Constitution, which came into operation early this year, provides with some exceptions for Bills which have been passed by this House to be sent to the Presidential Council for their opinion as to whether or not any and, if so, which provision of the Bill would, if enacted, be a differentiating measure or otherwise inconsistent with the funda mental liberties of the subject.

Where the Council submits an adverse report on a Bill, there are two courses which may be taken if the enactment of the Bill is to be pursued. Parliament may amend the Bill after which the Bill in its amended form will be resubmitted to the Council; or Parliament may, by an affirmative vote of not less than two-thirds of the total membership of Parliament, pass a resolution for the presentation of the Bill to the President for his assent. It is, therefore, necessary for the procedure for either course to be written into our Standing Orders and the procedure recommended by the Standing Orders Committee is set out in the proposed new Standing Order at paragraph 20 of Appendix I to the Report.

Sir, on financial procedure a recommendation has been made to increase the number of allotted days for the consideration of the Main Estimates in the Committee of Supply from three days as at present to five days. This should keep some Members happy. In the previous two Budget sessions the number of allotted days for the discussion of the Main Estimates was, by resolution, increased to five. And on both occasions all the five days were taken up. There is justification, therefore, for this increase.

With regard to the Development Estimates, the Committee has also recommended that the number of allotted days for the Committee of Supply be increased from one to two.

Mr Speaker. Sir, you will recollect that at the last Budget session a good number of amendments to the Estimates tabled by Members were not reached by want of time. The Committee, therefore, gave some thought to this and has suggested that the time limit for speeches in the Committee of Supply be reduced from the present 15 minutes to 10 minutes at any one time. The number of times a Member may speak on any question, of course, remains unlimited, it is hoped that this will enable more Members to have an opportunity to speak and raise matters relating to the Estimates and other matters considered in the Committee of Supply. I might add that in the Australian House of `Representatives a Member is allowed two periods each not exceeding 10 minutes on each question in Committee; a total of 20 minutes.

At paragraph 27 of Appendix 1to the Committee's Report is a new Standing Order setting out the procedure for a Vote of Credit for which provision had been made in an amendment to the Constitution in 1968.

Sir, before I conclude, 1 would like to refer to the proposed amendment relating to a debate on the Motion for the Adjournment. At present if the adjournment is moved at 8.00 p.m., the Adjournment Debate can go on to 8.30 p.m., that is to say, for 30 minutes. However, if the adjournment is moved at, say, 7.00 p.m., the debate can go on till 8.30 p.m., i.e., for l½ hours. It is felt that 30 minutes should be sufficient time for such debate. If the proposed amendment to Standing Order 1 (8) (b) as recommended in Appendix I to the Committee's Report' is accepted, a uniform maximum of 30 minutes will be available for a debate on the Motion for the Adjournment.

Sir, I beg to move.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this Parliament resolves that the amendments set out in Appendix I to the Report of the Standing Orders Committee as contained in Paper Parl. 4 of 1970 be and are hereby made to the Standing Orders of Parliament.