For the sitting period 24 February-6 March
1997
There was a preoccupation with the committee hearings on the
estimates during this period, but some matters of procedural
interest occurred.
ORDERS FOR PRODUCTION OF DOCUMENTS
An order was passed on 3 March for the production of a report by
a barrister on alleged conflicts of interest involving the Civil
Aviation Safety Authority. The order for the document, anticipating
a difficulty with its production, provided for protection of
personal information about persons named or identified in the
report. The document was duly produced on the following day with
the names of some persons mentioned in it blacked out.
An order passed on 5 March arose from controversy about the
joint Australian-United States defence exercise on the North
Queensland coast. The order provided a further example of one
requiring the creation of a document rather than the production of
a document already existing, because it required an itemised
account of costs to be prepared. The document was duly tabled on
the following day.
Throughout the period many indexed lists of departmental files
were tabled in response to the Senate's order requiring the
production of such lists. The lists are tabled in electronic form
as well as hard copy.
As if to demonstrate that every matter of controversy at some
stage results in an order for the production of documents, the
question of alleged irregularities in payments of Senator Colston's
entitlements led to the passage of an order, on his motion, on 4
March, for the production of details of travelling allowance
payments made to senators since 1 January 1992. Such details have
been tabled in the Senate in recent years, but in earlier years
only payments in relation to committees were tabled. On the
following day an unsuccessful attempt was made to reopen the
hearing on the estimates at which some of the allegations were
raised.
LEGISLATION CONSIDERED
In an unusual step on 3 March, the government went further than
proposing amendments to one of its own bills to gain passage of the
legislation through the Senate, and had one of its bills discharged
from the Notice Paper. The minister concerned stated that the
government had decided not to pursue the bill, the Immigration
(Education) Charge Amendment Bill 1996, particularly having regard
to the disallowance of relevant regulations by the Senate (see
Bulletin No. 109, p. 2). The motion to discharge the bill was moved
on 25 February but was adjourned so that senators could examine the
reasons for the motion. Two other bills in the package were passed
but with amendments apart from those proposed by the government in
association with the discharge of the abandoned bill.
An example of the government moving amendments to its bills as a
result of committee scrutiny and to overcome criticism of them was
provided by the education services for overseas students package of
bills, which were significantly amended on 3 March.
The package of bills designed to provide incentives for
membership of private health insurance funds was substantially
amended on 4 March.
DELEGATED LEGISLATION
The Regulations and Ordinances Committee presented two special
reports on 6 March, one relating to its scrutiny of instruments
made in preparation for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, and the
other relating to the legislative instruments bill. The latter
report consisted of a paper presented to the 4th Commonwealth
Conference on Delegated Legislation in Wellington, New Zealand, in
February, and contained an account of the peregrinations of that
bill, which is designed to overhaul the delegated legislation
system (see Bulletin No. 110, p. 3).
For a government bill abandoned partly because of disallowance
of regulations, see under Legislation, above.
VACANCIES
The Senate passed a resolution on 4 March calling on two states
to fill casual vacancies expeditiously (the vacancies referred to
were that created by the death of Senator Panizza and an
anticipated vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Woods,
which occurred on 7 March). The resolution was apparently
prompted largely by statements by the Premier of Queensland that a
casual vacancy in Queensland caused by a mooted resignation by
Senator Colston might not be filled in accordance with section 15
of the Constitution.
PARLIAMENTARY APPROPRIATIONS
The Appropriations and Staffing Committee presented on 26
February its report on the determination of the additional and
annual appropriations for the Senate, indicating that the Minister
for Finance had not included in the additional appropriation bill
matters which had been determined by the committee, without
consultation with the committee. The report, which was discussed at
the estimates hearing on the same day, presaged possible
difficulties in reaching agreement with the government over the
annual estimates for 1996-97, but was somewhat overtaken by a
statement by the President on 5 March that she and the Speaker
had decided to pursue a scheme of incorporating the joint
parliamentary departments into the two House departments.
COMMITTEES
The Finance and Public Administration References Committee
presented on 3 March a transcript of a round table discussion the
committee had held on the government's paper on the future
direction of the Public Service.
The report of the Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee
on the Euthanasia Laws Bill, presented on 6 March, was unusual in
containing lengthy additional statements by senators on the
bill.
The estimates committees presented their reports on the
additional estimates for 1995-96 on 6 March. Their
supplementary hearings will occur at the beginning of May.
The following committee reports were presented during the
period:
Date tabled |
Committee |
Title |
24.2 |
Community Affairs Legislation |
Report—Annual Reports |
" |
National Crime Authority |
Report—Law Enforcement in Australia |
" |
Environment, Recreation, Communications and the
Arts Legislation |
Report—Annual Reports |
" |
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
Legislation |
Additional Information—Estimates 1996-97 |
25.2 |
Economics Legislation |
Report—Annual Reports |
" |
Employment, Education and Training
Legislation |
Report—Annual Reports |
" |
Rural and Regional Affairs Transport
Legislation |
Report—Annual Reports |
26.2 |
Appropriations and Staffing |
25th Report |
27.2 |
Procedure |
1st Report of 1997 |
" |
Legal and Constitutional References |
Report—Payment of a Minister's Legal Costs: Part
2 |
" |
Scrutiny of Bills |
2nd Report and Alert Digest No. 2 of 1997 |
3.3 |
Finance and Public Administration References |
Australian Public Service |
5.3 |
Environment, Recreation, Communications and the
Arts Legislation |
ReportT—elecommunications Bills Package 1996 |
" |
Scrutiny of Bills |
3rd Report and Alert Digest No. 3 of 1997 |
6.3 |
Legal and Constitutional Legislation |
Report—Euthanasia Laws Bill 1996 |
" |
Regulations and Ordinances |
Report—Sydney 2000 Olympic Games Legislative
Instruments |
" |
Regulations and Ordinances |
Conference Paper |
" |
Community Affairs Legislation |
Report—Additional Estimates 1996-97 |
" |
Economics Legislation |
Report—Additional Estimates 1996-97 |
" |
Employment, Education and Training
Legislation |
Report—Additional Estimates 1996-97 |
" |
Environment, Recreation, Communications and the
Arts Legislation |
Report—Additional Estimates 1996-97 |
" |
Finance and Public Administration Legislation |
Report—Additional Estimates 1996-97 |
" |
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
Legislation |
Report—Additional Estimates 1996-97 |
" |
Legal and Constitutional Legislation |
Report—Additional Estimates 1996-97 |
6.3 |
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport
Legislation |
Report—Additional Estimates 1996-97 |
" |
Finance and Public Administration Legislation |
Report—Annual Reports |
" |
Superannuation Select |
22nd Report—Retirement Savings Accounts
Legislation |
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