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Supplementary Order Paper No 337

No 337

House of Representatives

Supplementary Order Paper

Tuesday, 10 September 2019

End of Life Choice Bill

Proposed amendment to SOP No 259

Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, in Committee, to move the following amendment:

Clause 20

In clause 20(1), replace “The Minister must appoint an end-of-life Review Committee consisting of” (page 18) with “The Minister must appoint an end-of-life Review Committee with an appropriate number of members to fulfil its functions under subsection (2), but in any case with no fewer than 7 members and no more than 13 members at any given time, consisting of at least”

Explanatory note

This Supplementary Order Paper amends Supplementary Order Paper No 259 amending the End of Life Choice Bill by proposing an appropriate range for the number of members of the Review Committee.

It is relatively unusual for the number of members of a statutory body to be left unspecified.

It is also undesirable that no guidance in the matter be given. A statutory body that is too small in number would risk disproportionate influence being accorded to any given individual member. Conversely, a statutory body that is too large in number risks the dilution of the specific expert influence that will be afforded by the appointment of particular members as mandated by the proposed legislation.