Select committees

While having a conversation with someone recently about bills that national are rushing through parliament the subject of select committees came up. Much to my surprise this person was unaware of the functions and role that select committees serve. As a result I am going to try and produce a basic introduction to them.

Select committees provide an opportunity for potential policy to be debated and put under scrutiny or existing policy to be evaluated. In a select committee the goals and wording of the potential policy can be decided. It is also quite a pivotal point in our democracy as the general public is also able to make written submissions and/or observe the select committee in action. There will be a few rare examples where the select committee is not open to the public but these are few and far between. After collecting submissions the select committee will decide which (if any) of the submissions meets the requirements of the bill. After selecting a submission it is also quite likely that some modifications will be made to it to prevent things like loop holes.