Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Australian Politics and Policy
• Statutes, which determine the powers and composition of each house, and its
rights and immunities.
• Standing Orders, which lay down the most important source of procedures –
although they can be dispensed with by granting ‘leave’ or permission for the
house to deal with something in an informal way, or to set them aside through
amotionto‘suspend’.
• Sessional Orders enable the House to do certain things that are not covered
by Standing Orders. For example, Sessional Orders are passed on the first day
of business of each session, setting out matters such as the days and hours of
sitting, the order of business and time limits for debates and speeches.
• Rulings are made by the chairs of each house (the speaker in the House of
Representatives or the president in the Senate). They are often interpretations
of the Standing or Sessional Orders.
• Custom and practice provide the rules the house applies when there are no
rules set down; for example, the rights of the opposition to ask first questions,
address in reply and respond to a government’s budget (budget reply).
Privilege
Each house of parliament has certain powers, rights and immunities that are
essential for it to operate effectively. These are often referred to as ‘parliamentary
privilege’. The powers, rights and immunities include:
• the power to regulate the house’s proceedings through standing rules and orders,
whichhavetheforceoflaw
• therightoffreespeechinparliamentwithoutliabilitytoactionorimpeachment
for anything spoken therein, including immunity of members from legal
proceedings for anything they say in the course of parliamentary debates
• the power to call for persons, papers and things and to delegate such powers to
committees of the house
• immunity of parliamentary witnesses from being questioned or impeached for
evidence given before the house or its committees
• the power to punish for contempt those that improperly intrude on its privileges
or fail to follow its orders
• the power to regulate the conduct of its members, including the power to suspend
or expel them for misconduct.
Case example: Western Australia, 2018 – member resigns before he is expelled
On 8 May 2018, the Procedures and Privileges Committee of the Legislative
Assembly of Western Australia reported that a member of the house, Barry Urban,
hadcommitteda‘grossandaggravatedcontemptofparliament’andhadmisledthe
house on five occasions, and recommended that he be expelled. The committee, in
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