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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 12 Hansard (14 November) . . Page.. 3670 ..

Mr Smyth: Standing order 221 says that membership of committees shall be composed of representatives of all groups and parties in the Assembly as nearly as practicable proportional to their representation in the Assembly. This motion, will, in effect, violate that standing order. If we are going to have proportionality-if there are two crossbenchers on a committee, there must be four Liberals and approximately 41/2 members of the Labor Party.

MR SPEAKER: It is a bit late now. I will take some advice on it.

I have had the position clarified. If it were to succeed, this motion would not contravene the standing orders. It may be that the next one could, depending on what happens.

The Assembly voted-

Ayes, 7 Noes, 8

Ms Dundas Mr Stefaniak Mr Berry Mr Quinlan

Mrs Dunne Ms Tucker Mrs Cross Mr Stanhope

Mr Humphries Ms Gallagher Mr Wood

Mr Pratt Mr Hargreaves

Mr Smyth Ms MacDonald

Question so resolved in the negative.

Standing Committees

Membership

MRS CROSS (4.08): I move:

That the resolution of the Assembly of 11 December 2001 establishing standing committees be amended by omitting paragraph (4) and substituting the following:

(4) Each committee shall consist of three members, except for the Standing Committee on Community Services and Social Equity and the Standing Committee on Planning and Environment, which shall have four members.

MR HUMPHRIES (Leader of the Opposition) (4.09): I do not have any compelling arguments in favour of this motion, Mr Speaker, so I will have to put a few arguments against it. This is relevant to this matter. Standing order 221 says that membership of committees shall be composed of representatives of all groups and parties in the Assembly as nearly as practicable proportional to their representation in the Assembly.

Although I am not a mathematician, it is easy to determine that, proportionally, a crossbench of three-seventeenths of the Assembly as a whole should not have 50 per cent of the representation on a committee. Although we cannot get exact proportionality, as near as practicable proportionality on these two committees would amount to one Liberal, one Labor and one crossbencher-or perhaps two Liberal, two Labor and one crossbencher. There is no proportionality whatsoever in having two crossbenchers and one from each of the major parties. I would argue that standing

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