Australian House of Representatives committees
Parliamentary committees of the Australian House of Representatives are groups of Members of Parliament, appointed by the House of Representatives, to undertake certain specified tasks. They comprise government and non-government Members and have considerable powers to undertake work on behalf of the Parliament.
Federation Chamber
The Federation Chamber, established in 1994 as the Main Committee and renamed in February 2012, functions as a secondary debating venue within the Australian House of Representatives, allowing for parallel proceedings alongside the main Chamber to enhance parliamentary efficiency. This arrangement originated from recommendations in the 1993 Procedure Committee report About Time, which proposed creating a parallel stream for debating legislation and other matters to alleviate time pressures in the House. The renaming to Federation Chamber addressed potential confusion with the physical main committee room in parliament house which is used for joint and standing committees and served to emphasise parliament's role in Australia's federal system.Purpose and Role
The primary purpose of the Federation Chamber is to provide an additional forum for debating a restricted range of business, thereby optimising the use of parliamentary time, increasing opportunities for Members to speak on bills and reports, and facilitating more intimate and interactive discussions due to its smaller scale. It handles non-contentious matters that do not require formal divisions or votes, focusing on enhancing scrutiny of government legislation, private Members' business, and committee-related activitiesStanding committees
Under the Standing Orders of the House, standing committees are appointed for the life of the Parliament and they are usually re-established in some form in successive Parliaments.The House has two types of standing committees:general purpose committees – established to inquire into and report upon any matters referred to them, including legislation. These committees specialise by subject area, between them covering most areas of policy and government administration.domestic or internal 'committees' – concerned with the powers and procedures of the House or the administration of Parliament.
Select committees
Select committees are appointed as the need arises for a specific purpose, and have a limited life.One notable example was the 1963 House of Representatives Select Committee on Grievances of the Yirrkala Aborigines, Arnhem Land Reserve, which was created to address the concerns of the Yolngu people living on Yirrkala mission, after mining leases had been granted to several areas of the Gove Peninsula in Arnhem Land without consulting the people who had lived there for thousands of years. The committee was established as a result of the Yirrkala bark petitions being presented to Parliament in August 1963. This committee comprised Roger Dean ; Charles Barnes; Kim Beazley Sr.; Gordon Bryant; Don Chipp; Bert Kelly; and Jock Nelson.