Submission on the Review of Standing Orders 2026
The Commissioner submitted on the Review of Standing Orders in September, commending the introduction of scrutiny week whilst cautioning its reinforcement of a siloed approach to consideration of expenditure and advocating for cross agency hearings on some matters. He recommended that Standing Orders should support outcome-based scrutiny.
The submission raised concern over the increasing use of urgency, which the Commissioner believes has impacted both public access and confidence in select committee processes.
“In my view, recourse to urgency should be rare and driven by events affecting national life that require rapid legislative intervention.”
In addition, he drew attention to the number of significant amendments to legislation being introduced at Committee of the Whole House stage, by-passing select committee scrutiny. The submission recommends the introduction of criteria to limit Amendment Paper content.
The Commissioner noted a significant increase of environmentally related legislation and raised his concern about the ability of select committees to make proper enquiries. He recommended the Standing Orders Select Committee consider how Bills attracting large numbers of submissions could be better managed, and a review mechanism for Bills passed under urgency.