[UMA-SR-000000864] ACC 9 Structure of Government Sub-Committee Files

Description

IdentifierUMA-SR-000000864Extent19 filesScope and ContentThe Structure of Government Sub-Committee was established by the Standing Committee in June 1983, and considered the four matters outlined below. This series includes documents created by the Structure of Government Sub-Committee and research material on the Sub- Committee's four references, including copies of documents dating back to the early twentieth century.

Constitutional Practices (Conventions of the Constitution)

At the 1983 plenary session in Adelaide, it was proposed in Agenda Item A.4 that 34 constitutional practices should be recognised and declared by the Convention. Agenda Item
A.4 was moved in accordance with the recommendation of Standing Committee D, whose Conventions Sub-Committee had been considering the matter of conventions applicable to the operation of the Australian Constitution.

The Convention recognised and declared that practices 1-19, 28-30 and 32-34 should be observed as conventions in Australia. Practices 20-27 and 31 were referred to the Standing Committee for further consideration. (See Resolution 4, 1983 plenary session.) These included practices dealing with the power of the Governor-General to appoint and dismiss Ministers (Practices 20-22), the powers of the Governor-General in relation to the Houses of Parliament (Practices 23-27), and the power of the Governor-General in relation to Bills to alter the Constitution that have passed both Houses (Practice 31). The Standing Committee referred these practices to the Structure of Government Sub-Committee.

The Structure of Government Sub-Committee commissioned papers on this reference and appointed a working party on constitutional practices. The Sub-Committee discussed constitutional practices in Part 2 of its Report to Standing Committee, August 1984.

The Structure of Government Sub-Committee sought the opinions of the Constitutional Amendment Sub-Committee on Practice 31, so other material connected with this reference may be found in the files (ACC 13) and report of the Constitutional Amendment Sub- Committee.

Qualifications of Members of Parliament

This matter was the subject of Agenda Item A.8 at the 1983 plenary session in Adelaide. The 1983 Convention referred the matter to the Standing Committee in Resolution 7:

That the recommendations of the Senate Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal

Affairs as to the constitutional qualifications of Members of Parliament together with the Explanatory Paper by Mr Lindell be referred to a Standing Committee for consideration and report to the next plenary session.

The Standing Committee allocated this reference to the Structure of Government Sub- Committee. The Sub-Committee dealt with this matter in its Report on Constitutional Qualifications of Members of Parliament, February 1985.

Recognition of Local Government in the Australian Constitution

In June 1983 the Executive Committee referred this matter to the Standing Committee, which in turn allocated it to the Structure of Government Sub-Committee. The Local Government Report, April 1984 was the outcome of work by a Local Government Sub-Committee (or Working Party), with amendments by the Structure of Government Sub-Committee.

Note that Standing Committee A had previously considered and reported on the recognition of local government.

The proposal to break the nexus between the size of the House of Representatives and the size of the Senate

This matter was referred by the Executive Committee to the Structure of Government Sub- Committee in December 1983. An opinion sought from Mr G. Lindell assisted the Sub- Committee in the preparation of its Report on Breaking of the Nexus between the Sizes of the Federal Houses of Parliament, February 1985. In his paper Mr Lindell made reference to earlier deliberations by Standing Committee D and its Territories Sub-Committee concerning Territories and new States. He also mentioned an opinion given to Standing Committee B by Professor J.E. Richardson relating to section 128 of the Constitution.

ACC 9 includes files compiled by the Chief Executive Officer (and Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer) and Legal Research Officers. The files contain the following kinds of material:

Correspondence: Letters to/from the Chief Executive Officer, the Assistant to the Chief Executive Officer and Secretary to the Structure of Government Sub-Committee (Don Blackwood), the Chairman of the Sub-Committee (Doug Lowe), Legal Research Officers (Lynette Lenaz-Hoare and Vanessa Mitchell), and others. These files also contain notes and papers.

Agendas and Minutes: Agendas, minutes and associated correspondence and papers.

Papers: Material relating to the terms of reference of the Sub-Committee, including commissioned opinions and papers, research material, Bills, Acts, etc.

Reports: Drafts and proofs of the Structure of Government Sub-Committee's several reports. The printed versions of these reports can also be found with the Proceedings of the ACC,

Brisbane, 1985.Access StatusOpen for public accessRequest Access to RecordsRequest records from this Series

Item

Series

Provenance

CreatorAustralian Constitutional ConventionRoleProvenance

Provenance

CreatorFinemore, JohnRoleProvenance

Dates

Datec.1902-1986

Relationships

Preceding Series[UMA-SR-000000858] ACC 3 Standing Committee 'A' FilesRelated Series[UMA-SR-000000862] ACC 7 Standing Committee Files[UMA-SR-000000868] ACC 13 Constitutional Amendment Sub-Committee Files[UMA-SR-000000874] ACC 19 Printed Proceedings, Reports and Papers[UMA-SR-000000884] ACC 29 Papers on Agenda Items[UMA-SR-000000889] ACC 34 Research Files[UMA-SR-000000890] ACC 35 Papers re the Origins, Organisation and Achi

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[UMA-SR-000000864] ACC 9 Structure of Government Sub-Committee Files