WA Government Bill Falls Foul of WA Parliamentary Procedure

Wednesday 19 October 2016 @ 11.01 a.m. | Crime | Judiciary, Legal Profession & Procedure | Legal Research

Yesterday (18 October 2016) the School Boarding Facilities Legislation Amendment and Repeal Bill 2015 (the School Boarding Facilities Bill) was ruled to be out of order by the Speaker of the WA Assembly with the effect being that the Bill would need to be reintroduced into the Assembly again and then proceed through both the Assembly and the Council before it could proceed to being enacted as legislation.

Already passed by the Council in 2015, the Bill was ruled out of order by the Speaker in the Assembly, Liberal MP Mr Sutherland, because Appropriation Bills or Bills requiring the appropriation of money cannot originate in the Council and must be introduced into the Assembly.

Why Money Bills are Different

The general principal of parliamentary procedure is that Appropriation or "Money" Bills (that is, Bills requiring the appropriation or expenditure of money) come with extra rules for their introduction. This is because in the States and even Federally, the Government is formed in the Assembly (or lower house), thus, in most circumstances a Money Bill may only be introduced by the relevant Minister in the Assembly (or lower house of parliament).  Ways around this exist in cases where Ministers are members of the Council (the upper house), for example, in South Australia, it is an established practice that Money Bills can originate in the Council:

". . . provided that any money clauses are shown in 'erased' type. The Legislative Council would then request for the House of Assembly to amend the Bill by 'inserting' the erased clauses as if they had originated in that House."

About the Legislation Affected by the Speaker's Ruling

The speaker's ruling on the School Boarding Facilities Bill is reported as an "embarrassing parliamentary setback for the WA Government". The legislation was an attempt to pass legislation to deal with matters ". . . sparked by a damning inquiry into child sexual abuse at state-run hostels . . .." called  the Blaxell Inquiry.

This was an inquiry into allegations of sexual abuse at St Andrew’s Hostel Katanning between 1975 and 1990. The hostel was one of a number in regional WA that operated under the auspices of the Authority established under the Country High School Hostels Authority Act 1960 (WA). Much of the report's recommendations, according to the Minister's second reading speech, have been implemented and the School Boarding Facilities Bill, in addition to the recommendations of the report, was to implement the WA Government's decision that: ". . . hostels must have a more contemporary public sector governance structure . . ." which was to be achieved by abolishing the Authority and local boards and bringing the management of hostels under the control of the WA Department of Education.

The legislation the Bill amends is the School Education Act 1999 (WA), which is amended so as to make provision for student residential colleges; and  to repeal the Country High School Hostels Authority Act 1960 (WA) and regulations made under that Act; and further, to make consequential amendments to various other Acts.

What Next for School Boarding Facilities Bill

The Speaker's ruling means the School Boarding Facilities Bill will need to be reintroduced in the Assembly and proceed through both chambers of the WA Parliament. The WA Education Minister, Peter Collier is reported as  insisting that the School Boarding Facilities Bill would ". . . still happen by the end of the sitting year".

The Minister is further reported as indicating that the Government had acted upon the advice of parliamentary staff in introducing the bill into the Council, saying also that:

"It is disappointing more than anything, we can only go on the advice we are provided, . . .  Ultimately the legislation will go through in a fairly seamless fashion because it had the support of everyone."

Not the First Time this Year in WA

The School Boarding Facilities Bill is not the first Bill in WA this year to fall to a ruling of this type by the Speaker Mr Sutherland. Last month (September 2016), the speaker also blocked the Constitution and Electoral Amendment Bill 2016 introduced into the Council by the WA Nationals for the same procedural reason. The purpose of that Bill was stated in the second reading as being to increase the number of electoral districts from 59 to 61 and subsequently amend the number of sitting members in the Assembly by the same number. Again the Speaker based his ruling on the fact that the implementation of the said Bill would require money for the payment of two additional Assembly members, and, as a Bill, therefore requiring money be appropriated, it could not be introduced in the Council.

The fate of both Bills will be something to look out for with just two full sitting weeks in November left for the Assembly before the next WA election and quite a few items of proposed legislation still on the books for completion in the WA Parliament.

TimeBase is an independent, privately owned Australian legal publisher specialising in the online delivery of accurate, comprehensive and innovative legislation research tools including LawOne and unique Point-in-Time Products.

Sources:

School Boarding Facilities Legislation Amendment and Repeal Bill 2015 and Constitution and Electoral Amendment Bill 2016 and Second Reading and Explanatory Materials as reported in the TimeBase LawOne Service

Embarrassment for WA Government as legislation on school boarding facilities ruled out of order (ABC News)

Speaker stops Nationals' push to expand WA Parliament in its tracks (ABC News)

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