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Department of the House of Representatives Annual Report 2018–19

Business of the House and Federation Chamber

This appendix contains summary information on the business of the House and Federation Chamber in 2018–19.

Meetings of the House of Representatives, 2018–19
Events	Spring 2018	Autumn–Winter 2019	Total
Sitting weeks	8	3	11
Sitting days	32	10	42
Hours of sitting:^a
including suspensions	283	92	375
excluding suspensions	280	91	371
Sittings after midnight	0	0	0
Government bills introduced^b	68	57	125
Private members’ bills introduced^c	22	8	30
Private members’ motions moved	11	1	12
Committee reports presented	67	60	127
Days on which:
the adjournment motion was debated	31	8	39
matters of public importance were discussed	23	8	31
private members’ business occurred	8	1	9
Divisions	67	18	85
Closure of question agreed to	6	3	9
Closure of member agreed to	4	0	4
Bills subject to debate management motions	0	0	0

a. Hours are rounded to the nearest hour. Discrepancies in totals are due to rounding.

b. Includes 13 Senate bills.

c. Includes two private senators’ bills.

Meetings of the Federation Chamber, 2018–19
Events	Spring 2018	Autumn–Winter 2019	Total
Number of meetings	32	9	41
Hours of meeting (excluding suspensions)^a	99	31	130
Bills referred	2	5	7
Private members’ bills debated	2	1	3
Private members’ motions moved	40	8	48
Committee reports presented	0	0	0
Committee and delegation reports referred	21	8	29
Other documents debated	3	1	4
Days on which:
the adjournment motion was debated	8	3	11
grievance debate occurred	8	2	10
private members’ business occurred	9	1	10

a. Hours are rounded to the nearest hour. Discrepancies in totals are due to rounding.

Bills and amendments dealt with by the House of Representatives (including the Federation Chamber), 2014–15 to 2018–19
Events	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19
Government bills introduced (including bills brought from the Senate)	191	141	213	187	125
Initiated in the House	181	136	206	172	112
Initiated in the Senate	10	5	7	15	13
Private members’ bills introduced^a	12	21	35	35	30
Second-reading amendments moved	22	16	40	45	37
Consideration-in-detail amendments moved:
government	215	60	58	453	471
opposition	62	38	44	44	63
non-aligned	26	21	71	9	32
amendments to private members’ bills	0	0	0	93	0
Consideration-in-detail amendments passed:
government	215	60	58	453	471
opposition	4	2	0	3	2
non-aligned	0	0	1	0	10
amendments to private members’ bills	0	0	0	0	0

a. Includes private senators’ bills.

https://www.transparency.gov.au/annual-reports/department-house-representatives/reporting-year/2018-2019-50