Parliament of Nauru >>Select Committee on Constitutional Amendment

Select Committee on Constitutional Amendment Bills

 

 

Introduction

The Select Committee on Constitutional Amendment Bills is a Committee made up of nine members of Parliament, and was created by a resolution of Parliament. The work of the Committee was part of step 5 of the Constitutional Review Process.

The Committee was given the task of looking at all the material from the constitutional review process so far, and recommending to Parliament whether anything in the constitutional amendment bills should be changed.

The Committee was created in December 2008 and it did its work in January, February and March 2009.  On 10th March 2009 the Committee presented its report to Parliament. The Report explains the work of the Committee, and the recommendations of the Committee. The Committee has now fulfilled its terms of reference and completed its work.

The reason that Parliament established the Select Committee on Constitutional Amendment Bills, when Parliament already has a Standing Committee on Constitutional Review (the ‘CRC’), is that bills cannot be referred to a Standing Committee, but only to a Select Committee.

The Report and recommendations of the Select Committee on Constitutional Amendment Bills were considered by the Committee of the Whole House in June 2009, and following the Report of the COTW on the Constitutional Amendment Bills as amended, Parliament unanimously passed the two constitutional amendment bills on 21 August 2009. For more information on the passage of the bills, see the Constitutional Review Process.

 

Members of the Committee

Hon Aloysius Amwano MP, Chairman
Hon Baron Waqa MP, Deputy Chairman
Hon Dr Kieren Keke MP
Hon Freddie Pitcher MP
Hon Roland Kun MP
Hon Mathew Batsiua MP
Hon Godfrey Thoma MP
Hon Dominic Tabuna MP
Hon Landon Deireragea MP

 

Terms of Reference

The Select Committee on Constitutional Amendment Bills was established by a resolution of Parliament passed on 18 December 2008. The Committee’s terms of reference are set out in the following motion to establish the Committee:

(1) That pursuant to Standing Order 163, the House resolves to refer the Constitution of Nauru (Parliamentary Amendments) Bill 2008 and the Constitution of Nauru (Referendum Amendments) Bill 2008 (“the constitutional amendment bills”) to a Select Committee, to be known as the Select Committee on Constitutional Amendment Bills, and that such Committee be established to inquire into and report to the House, on or before 16 February 2009, on the provisions of the constitutional amendment bills and other matters referred to the Committee in paragraph (5) of this motion.

(2) That the Committee consist of nine Members, namely:

Hon Kieren Keke,
Hon Roland Kun,
Hon Freddie Pitcher,
Hon Mathew Batsiua,
Hon Godfrey Thoma
Hon Baron Waqa,
Hon Dominic Tabuna,
Hon Aloysius Amwano, and
Hon Landon Deireragea;

(3) That the quorum of the Committee be five Members;

(4) That the Committee have the power to send for and examine persons, papers and records;

(5) That, in conducting its inquiry, the Committee examine the following matters:

(a) Whether it is necessary or desirable to make any amendments to the constitutional amendment bills;
(b) Whether any of the recommendations of the Constitutional Review Commission that were rejected by the Constitutional Convention of 2007 were so soundly based and/or so strongly supported by public opinion that they ought to be inserted into the constitutional amendment bills;
(c) Whether the constitutional amendment bills, including any amendments and insertions proposed by the Select Committee, are legally sound and what the likely impact of each of the proposed amendments to the Constitution will be;
(d) What needs to be inserted in the constitutional amendment bills by way of transitional provisions, based on the proposed final form of the bills as recommended by the Select Committee;
(e) Any other matter that the Committee deems necessary or relevant to enable it to complete its Report on the constitutional amendment bills.

(6) That, in inquiring into and reporting on the matters referred to in paragraph (5), the Committee have regard to:

(a) The Report of the Nauru Constitutional Review Commission, 28 February 2007;
(b) The Report of the Nauru Constitutional Convention, May 2007;
(c) The table of public views on proposed constitutional amendments that was prepared for the use of the Constitutional Review Commission;
(d) The advice of any legal advisor/s whose services may be made available to the Committee;
(e) Any material of the Standing Committee on Constitutional Review that the Committee deems useful to its inquiry;
(f) Any other material that the Committee deems relevant to its inquiry.

(7) That the House resolves that notwithstanding Standing Order 165, when the constitutional amendment bills as reported by the Select Committee are considered by the Committee of the Whole, the Committee of the Whole may follow the order of clauses proposed in the Report of the Select Committee, and that the Committee of the Whole shall not be confined to considering the clauses of the constitutional amendment bills but may also consider any matters or proposed clauses contained in the Report or arising therefrom.

(8) That the Committee may hold closed meetings from which all strangers are excluded, but that wherever practicable the Committee shall hold its meetings in public

(9) That the first meeting of the Committee shall be held on Monday 5 January 2009 at 10:00am.

Report