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Seminar on the Twentieth Anniversary of the Establishment of the House of Representatives Committee System

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Seminar on the Twentieth Anniversary of the Establishment of the House of Representatives Committee System Seminar on the Twentieth Anniversary of the Establishment of the House of Representatives Committee System Main Committee Room Parliament House Canberra Friday 15 February 2008 2 Table of Contents Program 5 Notes on participants 7 Presenter papers 17 Professor John Langmore Introduction to session one: overview 19 Mr Rod Sawford Introduction to session two: community participation and member education 25 Professor Ian Marsh Can parliamentary committees contribute to ‘social learning? 29 Ms Siobhan Leyne The changing role of parliamentary committees and the place of the community 63 Hon. Kevin Rozzoli Evolution of the committee system in the House of Representatives 85 Dr Phil Larkin The changing committee system of the British Parliament 95 Background discussion papers 109 Dr Phil Larkin The committees of the House of Representatives in comparative perspective 111 Mr John Baczynski House committee use of information communication technology 129 3 Ms Catherine Cornish Parliament to the people and back again: a discussion of the House Legal Committee’s inquiry into human cloning and stem cell research 149 Ms Clare James Government responses to parliamentary inquiries 159 Mr David Monk Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: A framework for testing the effectiveness of parliamentary committees 179 Mr David Monk A statistical analysis of government responses to committee reports: Reports tabled between the 2001 and 2004 elections 205 Mr Mark Rodrigues Parliamentary inquiries as a form of policy evaluation 249 4 20th Anniversary of the Establishment of the House of Representatives Committee System Friday 15 February 2008 Main Committee Room Parliament House Canberra 8.45 am Registration and light refreshments 9.00 am Welcome & Introduction Mr Harry Jenkins MP 9.10 am Session One: Overview: significant achievements and challenges Chair: Professor John Langmore Panel: Professor John Halligan Professor the Hon. Stephen Martin The Hon. Kevin Andrews MP General discussion 10.45 am Morning tea 11.00 am Session Two: Community participation/member education Chair: Mr Rod Sawford Panel: Mrs Kay Hull MP Professor Ian Marsh Ms Siobhan Leyne General discussion 12.15 pm Lunch 1.40 pm Session Three: Future directions and developments Chair: The Hon. David Hawker MP Panel: Professor Geoffrey Lindell The Hon. Kevin Rozzoli Dr Philip Larkin General discussion 3.15 pm Closing remarks Mr Ian Harris AO 3.30 pm Close 5 6 Notes on participants 7 8 Mr Harry Jenkins MP BSc (ANU) Speaker of the House of Representatives From 2008 Second Deputy Speaker 2004-2007 Federal member for Scullin (Vic) 1986- present Australian Labor Party Harry Jenkins was elected to the House of Representatives for Scullin, Victoria, at a by-election in 1986, vice the Hon. Dr HA Jenkins (resigned). He has served as Deputy Chair of Committees (1990-1993) and Deputy Speaker from 1993 to 1996. He has been the Second Deputy Speaker since April 1996. Mr Jenkins has been a member of numerous House committees in his more than twenty years in federal parliament. He served on the Environment, Recreation and the Arts committee from 1987 and then its successor, the Environment and Heritage committee to 2007. He chaired the Publications committee (1987-1990); the Community Affairs committee (1990-1993) and the Selection committee (1993-1996). He has been a member of the following House committees - Finance and Public Administration; Aboriginal Affairs; Industry, Science and Technology; Family and Community Affairs; Science and Innovation and Members’ Interests. In addition, Mr Jenkins was also a member of the Joint Statutory committee on Public Works, the Joint Standing committee on National Capital and External Territories and the Joint Select committee on the Retailing Sector. Professor John Langmore BComm, DipSocStud (Melb), MEc (Monash), DipDevEcon (Cantab). Federal member for Fraser (ACT) 1984-1996 Australian Labor Party John Langmore is a Professorial Fellow in Political Science at the University of Melbourne. He was Director of the UN Division for Social Policy and Development in New York for five years from 1997 and then Representative of the International Labour Organization to the United Nations for two. One of his principal responsibilities while in the UN Secretariat was organisation of the special session of the General Assembly on social development held in Geneva in June 2000. When appointed, he was the most senior Australian working in the UN Secretariat. Between 1984 and 1996 he was MP for Fraser. In 1987 he chaired a caucus committee which successfully recommended the establishment of the first comprehensive House of Representatives committee system. He later chaired a couple of House committees and several other inquiries. For example, while chairing the House Standing Committee on the Environment, Recreation and the Arts, major reports on employment and the environment, Australia's World Heritage areas, maintaining Australia’s biodiversity, and an assessment of the implementation of greenhouse gas emission reduction measures were completed. As a member of the Joint Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee he chaired several inquiries, on 9 trade, international financial institutions, Third World debt, and Australia’s balance of payments. His most recent book is To Firmer Ground: Restoring Hope in Australia which was published in October 2007 and which Robert Solomon reviewed in Federal Gallery and described as ‘as good a prescription as you will find for what the new government on 25th November should do to make Australia a better country’. Professor John Halligan PhD (Wellington) John Halligan is Research Professor of Government and Public Administration, Faculty of Business and Government, University of Canberra, Australia. His research interests are comparative public management and governance, specifically government institutions, parliament, corporate governance, political-bureaucratic relationships and performance management. He specialises in Anglophone countries, particularly Australia and New Zealand, and for comparative purposes, Canada and the United Kingdom. Recent books with colleagues are Managing Performance: International Comparisons, Routledge, London, 2007; Parliament in the 21st Century, Melbourne University Press, 2007. He is currently completing a book on Centrelink (for ANU Press), and studies of Corporate Governance in the Public Sector and Performance Management are being drafted. Professor the Hon. Stephen Martin BA, Dip Ed, MA, MTCP, PhD Speaker of the House of Representatives 1993-1996 Federal member for Macarthur (NSW) 1984-93 and Cunningham (NSW) 1993-2002 Australian Labor Party Professor Stephen Martin is currently Pro Vice Chancellor International at Victoria University in Melbourne. From April he will assume the role of Deputy Vice Chancellor (Strategy and Planning) at Curtin University in Perth. With a long and distinguished background in the Australian Parliament, Professor Martin represented the Macarthur and Cunningham electorates in New South Wales for eighteen years. In Government, he served as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Chairman of the House Standing Committee on Finance and Public Administration. As a member of the Shadow Cabinet, he held portfolios in Defence, Trade and Tourism. Prior to assuming his present role in January 2005, Professor Martin was the Chief Executive Officer of the University of Wollongong in Dubai. Between September 2002 and December 2003, he was a Professorial Fellow and Director of Corporate and Executive Education, Graduate School of Business and Professional Development at the University of Wollongong, Australia. 10 His interests are international education, politics, corporate governance, financial services, defence and trade policy, and sport. The Hon. Kevin Andrews MP BA, LLB (Melb), LLM (Monash). Federal member for Menzies (Vic) 1991-current Liberal Party of Australia Kevin Andrews was elected to the House of Representatives in 1991 as the Member for Menzies. He served on a number of Parliamentary Committees and chaired the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee from 1996 until 2001. He subsequently served as Minister for Ageing (2001 - 03), Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations (2003-2007) and Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (2007). Mr Rod Sawford DipT – MACE (Primary) (Western Teachers College) Federal member for Port Adelaide (SA) 1988-2007 Australian Labor Party Rod Sawford was elected to the House of Representatives in 1988 and after successive election wins he retired prior to the general elections in 2007. He served as Government Whip during 1994 through to the 1996 election and then as Opposition Whip from 1996 to November 2001. During his almost twenty years in federal parliament he served on numerous House committees including the House Standing Committees on Employment, Education and Training; Employment, Education and Workplace Relations; Education and Training; Education and Vocational Training and Aboriginal Affairs. Mr Sawford had been a member of the substantive Education House Committee for 18 years (1989 to 2007). He also served on the Joint Statutory Public Accounts Committee and the Privileges, Selection and Members Interests Committees. Prior to entering the Federal Parliament Mr Sawford was a casual labourer on the wharves of Port Adelaide, teacher consultant and school principal in the South Australian Education Department. Mrs Kay Hull MP Federal member for Riverina (NSW) 1998-current
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