Each University term I take on an intern as part of addressing long standing system failures within the Queensland Parliament. Last year, we addressed the inequality in Crossbench and Opposition Resourcing and the methodologies used to determine the allocation of resources. This led to the successful Private Members Motion being moved that will see this determination be undertaken by the Queensland Independent Remuneration Tribunal. This semester, my intern Sonia, has been working on another inadequacy identified in our system – the Committee process. For those unfamiliar with our government structure, the Queensland Legislative Assembly operates a unicameral system which does not have an Upper House, with committees replacing the “House of Review”. Currently committees consist of three Government members and three Opposition members, the casting vote is left to the Chair who is a Government member. I look forward to reporting on the outcome of our research findings and recommendations.
