Role of committees
The work of Parliament includes passing legislation, overseeing the Executive and providing advice on new policy areas. Parliament provides a public forum for debate on important issues facing the community. Across Australia, Parliaments use committees to help them in their work.
Parliamentary committees give members of Parliament and the public a chance to play a part in the formation of public policy. They allow Parliament to scrutinise the Executive more effectively, making it more responsible to the people of NSW. The committee system also gives members more time to consider issues in detail and seek expert advice.
Members of both Houses of the NSW Parliament can serve on different parliamentary committees. Committees can be established by either House of Parliament or jointly by both. Some committees must be established under legislation.
Types of committees
Some committees exist permanently or for long periods. Other committees are created by one or both Houses to inquire into and report back on a particular issue, after which the committee is disbanded. Different types of committees include:
- Standing committees, which exist for the term of a parliament and are usually renewed for each new parliament (for example the Road Safety or Social Issues Committees).
- Statutory committees, which are established by an act of parliament (for example the Public Accounts Committee).
- Select committees, which are appointed to look at a particular issue, such as crime or a controversial government project.
- Legislation committees, which are set up to consider or help develop a proposed law.
Committees and members of Parliament
An important part of the work of back bench members of Parliament (those not holding senior offices such as a Minister) is their membership of parliamentary committees. Parliament appoints committees made up of members to inquire into and report back on certain matters. These might be a proposed new law, an important or controversial social or legal problem, proposed or past government activity, or the budgets and expenditures of government departments. Some committees deal with ongoing matters such as overseeing the work of a particular body (e.g. the Independent Commission Against Corruption) or reviewing road safety or government regulations.
Committee inquiries start with terms of reference stating the issues they can look at. A committee will usually call for submissions, inviting interested people and organisations to express their views in writing. They usually also hold public hearings, where people and representatives of organisations appear and answer questions. Committees will often hold hearings in regional centres or travel to key locations to make it easier for people to present evidence to them. Most people who appear before committees or make submissions are experts or represent particular groups or viewpoints in the community. In this way, ideas and opinions from the wider community directly help the committee and the Parliament to make decisions. After considering all the evidence, the committee produces a report to Parliament, with recommendations on action the government should take. The report is tabled in Parliament, and the government has to respond outlining what action it will take in response to the recommendations.
Committees are made up of members of different political groups but they generally work together in a non-partisan way. Their membership reflects party numbers in the House, so government members are normally in the majority in Legislative Assembly committees. In Upper House (Legislative Council) committees, where the government rarely has a majority of members, committees may have more ‘cross bench’ members (who do not belong to the government or major opposition parties) and fewer government members. With the work of Parliament and government becoming more complex, the importance, work and number of committees has increased over the years.
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