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senate vote 2022-07-27#1
Edited by
pizza1016
on
2022-07-28 21:04:31
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Title
Committees — Human Rights Joint Committee, Corporations and Financial Services Joint Committee, Law Enforcement Joint Committee, Electoral Matters Joint Committee, Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Implementation of the National Redress Scheme: Joint Select Committee, Migration Joint Committee, National Capital and External Territories Joint Committee, Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity Joint Committee, Parliamentary Standards Joint Select Committee, Parliamentary Library Joint Committee, National Disability Insurance Scheme Joint Committee, Trade and Investment Growth Joint Committee, Treaties Joint Committee, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Joint Committee; Appointment- Committees - Appointment of joint committees - Choose a different chair
Description
<p class="speaker">Claire Chandler</p><p>Messages have been received from the House of Representatives transmitting for concurrence resolutions related to the formation of joint committees as listed on the Dynamic Red.</p> <p class="speaker">Murray Watt</p><p>I seek leave to have the messages considered immediately.</p><p>Leave granted.</p><p>I move:</p><p class="italic">That the Senate—</p><p class="italic">(a) concurs with the resolutions of the House of Representatives contained in messages Nos 2-6 and 8-16 relating to the appointment of joint committees; and</p><p class="italic">(b) concurs with the resolution of the House of Representatives contained in message No. 7, except that paragraph 6 of the resolution be amended as follows:</p><p class="italic">omit Joint Select Committee and substitute Joint Standing Committee.</p> <p class="speaker">Larissa Waters</p><p>We'll be seeking to amend this motion in the terms as follows:</p><p class="italic">At the end of the motion, add—</p><p class="italic">, except in relation to the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and that in relation to that committee, paragraph (6) be amended as follows:</p><p class="italic">(6) the committee elect a:</p><p class="italic">(a) minor group senator or independent senator as its chair; and</p><p class="italic">(b) Government member as its deputy chair who shall act as chair of the committee at any time when the chair is not present at a meeting of the committee.</p><p>Madam Acting Deputy President, I seek your guidance as to whether I or any other speakers may speak to this amendment.</p> <p class="speaker">Claire Chandler</p><p>You are able to speak to the amendment, yes.</p> <p class="speaker">Larissa Waters</p><p>I'll make some very brief remarks. We made history with the election of Senator Jordon Steele-John as a proud disabled man. Some functional changes needed to be made to this chamber even to physically accommodate him. We have now re-established the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. It is my firm belief, the belief of my party and perhaps a belief shared by others that, in fact, disabled people should be in charge of making decisions about themselves. We have sought to obtain support to have Senator Steele-John as either the chair or the deputy chair of this committee, and we have in good faith sought to reach agreement on that. We have been unsuccessful in that, and the reason for that is that the two big parties like to carve up the committees as the spoils of the two-party system.</p><p>We think, in this instance, it really would have sent a powerful message to the disability community that people who share a disability can be in charge of making decisions that set the rules for everybody else and that lived experience is crucial in decision-making. That is why we seek to have a more diverse parliament—so that we can make decisions that appropriately reflect people's different lived experience and therefore can make better decisions for them. It's for that reason that we sought to move this amendment. The two parties have a real decision here. Do you want to seek to just control this committee? I won't speculate on your motives; perhaps they're noble motives. But the strong and powerful statement that having a person with disability chair this committee would I think be a real step forward for Australia, would be a step forward for inclusion and would be the right thing to do, so we urge every senator to think deeply about their vote to allow our senator with a disability to chair the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme.</p> <p class="speaker">Jacqui Lambie</p><p>I'd like to make a short statement, but I'll tell you what's going on here, and I've been saying this for a long time—that when you pick people to do jobs in this place it's never picked on merit. I know what it's like with veterans, the amount of work that we have to put in, the fight that we have to go through. I know what it's like that Senator Steele-John also has to do all that extra work. He knows all those groups out there; he has contacts everywhere. While you guys do a continuous revolving door of ministers, of people in charge, we are stuck with this, whether it's for disability or veterans, from the time we walk into this chamber until we are finished, until our constituents say, 'We have had enough; we are voting you out,' or we leave on our own terms. If you want things done properly in this country then you'll give it to the people that are stuck in these situations, who know all these people on the outside and hear from every one of them every day of the week. These are the people who are the professionals. This is what you would do in business, but you would rather stick with some stupid tradition than give the job to the people who deserve it.</p><p>I'll be honest: if somebody knows about disabilities in this Senate chamber, it is Senator Steele-John. There is no debating this. I really wish you would start thinking outside the square, because quite frankly, if you haven't noticed, major parties are going out the door. This is happening. You have a bloke that lives this. He breathes this. He knows everybody in the sector. It makes it that easy. Isn't this the person that you would want as the Deputy Chair or the Chair? Isn't this the person that these people out there want representing them, to have the strongest voice possible where it matters most, based on merit, because he has earned it? He has earned this. But no, tradition is more important than humanity and doing the right thing in this chamber.</p><p>When are you going to learn? When are you going to start paying merit to people who deserve it, not because they're in your faction or they're over in this faction? This is how it works in here, people of Australia. It's not the best person for the job in here; it's whether you're mates with someone or you're in a certain faction. This has to stop. This is killing politics in this country and it's not giving the people that need a voice a fair go. It's got to stop. You want a fair go? You talk about a fair go over there, Labor. You talk about merit, fair go. There he is. He has earned it, and by God has he earned it. He has spent his whole life there. You've got to start thinking outside the square. It is not fair. This tradition crap is finished. This is the 21st century. Start doing the right thing and giving the jobs to the people who deserve them, who have actually earned them. That's what I'm asking. We will be voting for you to be the Chair, mate.</p> <p class="speaker">Jordon Steele-John</p><p>Let me thank Senator Waters and Senator Lambie for their contributions. I thoroughly and deeply appreciate it. I wasn't expecting to be able to speak to this motion this evening, but what I will just add to the contributions that have been made is this: I have been a proud member of the Joint Standing Committee on the NDIS now for the best part of four years, and I know from firsthand experience that it is a committee of the parliament which is held in very high regard by disabled people because for the last four years particularly they have known that it is a committee which will be on their side. When the Liberal government, particularly, was trying to push through independent assessments against the advice of many of their own colleagues, it was the NDIS joint standing committee, working with the disability community, that delivered so many of the key moments in that campaign, created the space for them to be heard in the parliament. The report that that committee handed down was a key moment in ensuring that the Morrison government got the message that independent assessments needed to be chucked in the bin.</p><p>I want to reflect also that since the election the disability community have been really clear with all sides of politics. They want us disabled people to work together, urgently, to fix the NDIS and to break down the barriers of structural ableism everywhere they exist in society. They have been clear with every MP in this place that one of the best ways you do that is to put somebody with lived experience in those roles.</p><p>Having been here for four years, I do also understand the importance of collaboration as part of these committee processes. Should the Senate tonight take the step of placing me in the position of chair, I will, of course, work collectively and collaboratively across every section of this parliament to ensure that it is a committee which continues to deliver the consensus voice of the disability community. I absolutely pledge myself to doing that.</p><p>But I also urge both parties, tonight, to heed the words of the disability community in relation to placing people with lived experience in those leadership roles, in demonstrating clearly—you have another opportunity tonight—that you believe that disabled people belong in politics, that you believe that disabled people should be trusted and are able to lead the conversations in relation to our lives, in relation to our systems and processes, the systems and processes affecting four million disabled people, $500,000 of us on the NDIS and our families.</p><p>Take this opportunity tonight. Let one of the conventions, of this place, that have existed for so long, stifled so much, go in this moment. Let it go. And let us work together not only to deliver an NDIS that works for everybody but also to create a more accessible and inclusive society for everyone.</p> <p class="speaker">Andrew McLachlan</p><p>Does any other senator have a contribution? As there is no-one, I put to the chamber the amendment from Senator Waters to the motion that the Senate concurs with the resolutions of the House of Representatives relating to the appointment of the joint committee. This is the amendment of the Greens.</p> <p class="speaker">Sue Lines</p><p>The question before the Senate is the amendment to the motion that the Senate concurs with the resolutions of the House of Representatives in relation to the appointment of joint committees.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p> -
- The majority voted against a [Greens amendment to a Government motion](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?id=2022-07-27.138.2) to establish several joint committees (committees consisting of members from both the House and the Senate). Greens Senate leader [Larissa Waters](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/queensland/larissa_waters) proposed to change the chair of the Joint Standing Committee on the National Disability Insurance Scheme to be a member of a minor party or an independent, instead of a Government senator. The intent of the proposal is to allow for the election of Western Australia Greens senator [Jordon Steele-John](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/wa/jordon_steele-john), who is a member of the disability community, to chair that committee.
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