For the sitting period 22 June-12 July
1998
Orders for production of documents
The Finance and Public Administration References Committee
reported on 2 July on its review of the Senate's continuing order
for the production of indexed lists of departmental files by
government departments. The committee recommended that the order be
complied with by loading the lists on the Internet. If this
recommendation is adopted, it will amount to an order by the Senate
that documents be published on the Internet, a significant
precedent.
Documents were tabled on 22 June in compliance with an order
made in 1995. The order required a report on the first two years of
operation of certain amendments to the corporations law made by the
First Corporate Law Simplification Act 1995.
Documents were produced on 23 June in response to the order
of 28 May relating to classification of videos.
An order was passed on 24 June for the production of documents
relating to government advertising campaigns. This order was made
in the context of allegations that the government intends to use
large amounts of public funds in promoting government programs as
part of an election campaign. A statement was made on 29 June by
the Leader of the Government in the Senate to the effect that the
government was unable to meet the deadline on that day, and the
order has not yet been complied with.
Another order yet to be complied with was made on 2 July in
relation to electoral briefs prepared for ministers. The Leader of
the Government in the Senate made a statement on 7 July
indicating that the documents were being located and examined.
Nothing has yet been produced in response to the order for
documents relating to events on the waterfront (see Bulletin No.
125, p. 2). Negotiations are continuing for a settlement of the
various legal actions relating to the dispute. If a settlement
occurs, the government's reason for not producing the documents,
that their production might prejudice the legal proceedings, will
be removed.
The Privileges Committee reported on 30 June on two significant
cases.
The 73rd report dealt with an allegation that the
Attorney-General and officers of the Attorney-General's Department
had interfered with a witness before the Joint Committee on Native
Title, namely, the President of the Law Reform Commission. The
committee found that no contempt was committed in respect of the
matter, as the Attorney-General and his officers had not sought by
improper means to influence the evidence of the Law Reform
Commission, but had acted in ignorance of the parliamentary
dimension of the matter.
The 72nd report dealt with an allegation that the University of
Queensland had taken disciplinary action against a person in
consequence of his communication with the Senate through a senator.
The committee found that the University had committed a contempt of
the Senate in taking disciplinary action against the person
concerned. The University has withdrawn its action against him.
The committee received on 2 July yet another reference relating
to alleged unauthorised disclosure of committee documents. The
motion to refer the matter to the committee was debated and
interesting observations were made, including by the Chair of the
Committee, Senator Ray, about the offence of unauthorised
disclosure and privilege matters generally.
Legislation
Two bills gave the appearance of dominating the sitting period:
the Native Title Amendment Bill 1997 and the Telstra (Transition to
Full Private Ownership) Bill 1998.
Following negotiations between the government and Senator
Harradine, the Native Title Bill was again presented to the Senate.
In the course of the negotiations the assumption seems to have been
made that a new bill would have to be introduced, the original bill
having been laid aside by the government in the House of
Representatives after it disagreed with some of the Senate's
amendments (see Bulletin No. 121, p. 1; No. 123, p. 2). It was
pointed out, however, that the Senate had revived bills even if
they had been negatived at the third reading, and there was nothing
to prevent the House of Representatives adopting the same course
with the Native Title Bill. The bill was accordingly revived in the
House, further amendments were made to it and it was sent to the
Senate for concurrence with this action.
This course had the advantage of shortening the proceedings in
the Senate: the bill was not the subject of full reconsideration,
including a second reading debate and committee stage, but required
only a decision by the Senate on whether it would abandon its
amendments not agreed to and agree to the new amendments. There was
also an advantage to the government in partly clarifying the status
of the bill in relation to section 57 of the Constitution: had the
revived bill met with disagreement by the Senate, the government's
argument that the bill provided a “trigger” for a
double dissolution under section 57 would have been considerably
strengthened. In committee of the whole in the Senate the normal
motion was moved by a minister that the Senate not insist on its
amendments not agreed to and agree to its new amendments, but this
question was divided to allow separate consideration of Senate
amendments and of the new amendments. After two days of
consideration the bill finally passed on 8 July.
The Telstra bill was subjected to extensive amendment and then
negatived in committee of the whole by equally divided votes on the
question that the bill as amended be agreed to. It is not rational
for a bill which has been amended to be negatived in committee; the
appropriate stage for senators to vote against the bill is at the
third reading (see Odgers' Australian Senate Practice, 8th
ed, p. 255), but it is difficult to dissuade senators from voting
against the whole bill at the earliest opportunity. In this case a
procedural impasse could have ensued: if the question in the Senate
for the adoption of the committee's report had also been negatived
by an equally divided vote, this would have had the effect of
recommitting the bill to the committee. It would then have been
necessary to persuade senators not to vote against the bill at that
stage but to allow it to proceed to the third reading. The
government, however, decided not to call a division on the question
for the adoption of the committee's report.
Other bills were extensively amended during the period: the
Managed Investments Bill 1997; the Company Law Review Bill 1997;
the Social Security and Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment
(Budget and Other Measures) Bill 1997; the Electoral and Referendum
Amendment Bill 1998; the Television Broadcasting Services (Digital
Conversion) Bill 1998 (an extremely contentious bill); the Aviation
Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 1997; the Crimes Amendment
(Forensic Procedures) Bill 1997; the Trade Practices Amendment
(Country of Origin Representations) Bill 1998; the Wheat Marketing
Legislation Amendment Bill 1998; and the Intellectual Property Laws
Amendment Bill 1998. None of these bills led to disagreements
between the Senate and the government.
The bill which kept the Senate sitting on a Saturday evening and
into Sunday morning was not the Native Title Bill or the Telstra
Bill but the Copyright Amendment Bill 1997, which raised the vexed
question of copyright in relation to music on compact discs. It
also was passed with extensive amendments.
In dealing on 26 June with the stevedoring levy package of
bills, relating to the imposition of a levy to facilitate the
payment of redundancies on the waterfront, the Senate passed a
second reading amendment calling for transparency and
accountability in the expenditure of funds under the bill, and made
amendments to the text of the bill strengthening controls over the
expenditure of the funds and reporting to the Parliament on
payments under the bill.
The Scrutiny of Bills Committee presented on 25 June its special
report on penalty provisions in statutes. The committee recommended
review and clarification of criteria governing penalty regimes in
legislation.
Delegated legislation
The Regulations and Ordinances Committee presented its annual
report on 24 June (105th report). The voluminous report briefly
describes the extensive work undertaken by the committee in its
review of legislative instruments. The committee also made a report
on 30 June on the question of provisions more appropriate for
statutory enactment rather than delegated legislation.
On 2 July the Senate disallowed migration regulations having to
do with visas granted to foreign actors to participate in films
made in Australia. The regulations had sought to remove criteria
governing the granting of such visas.
Electoral
The Senate passed on 29 June, on the motion of the Leader of the
Opposition in the Senate, a resolution indicating support for the
use of section 282 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act, to
determine the division of the Senate for the purposes of election
by rotation of senators following a double dissolution, instead of
the method used since 1901 of awarding the six year terms to the
first six senators elected in each state (see Odgers'
Australian Senate Practice, 8th ed, pp 125-6). The resolution
cannot bind the Senate for the future.
Committees
The three weeks of sittings were preceded by two weeks of
estimates hearings. The committees reported on 23 June, and made
several critical comments on the quality of the information
provided to them. The annual appropriation bills were passed on 29
June.
The Economics References Committee was given on 24 June a
significant reference involving a review of the operations of the
Taxation Office, including the issue of “the equitable
treatment of taxpayers” and allegations of infiltration of
the office by organised crime.
A new select committee was appointed on 1 July to investigate
the socio-economic consequences of the national competition policy,
an issue related to current political discontents.
The following committee reports were presented during the
period:
Date tabled |
Committee |
Title |
22.6 |
Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Land Fund |
12th Report—Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Heritage Protection Bill 1998 |
23.6 |
Legal and Constitutional Legislation |
Additional Information—Additional Estimates
1997-98 |
“ |
Finance and Public Administration Legislation |
Report—Electoral and Referendum Amendment
Bill (No. 2) 1998 |
“ |
Community Affairs Legislation |
Report—Commonwealth Rehabilitation Service
Reform Bill 1998 |
“ |
Environment, Recreation, Communications and the
Arts Legislation |
Report—Television Broadcasting Services
(Digital Conversion) Bill 1998 and Datacasting Charge (Imposition)
Bill 1998 |
“ |
Community Affairs Legislation |
Report—Estimates 1998-99 |
“ |
Economics Legislation |
Report—Estimates 1998-99 |
“ |
Employment, Education and Training
Legislation |
Report—Estimates 1998-99 |
“ |
Environment, Recreation, Communications and the
Arts Legislation |
Report—Estimates 1998-99 |
“ |
Finance and Public Administration Legislation |
Report—Estimates 1998-99 |
“ |
Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
Legislation |
Report—Estimates 1998-99 |
“ |
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport
Legislation |
Report—Estimates 1998-99 |
“ |
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport
Legislation |
Report—Stevedoring Levy (Collection) Bill
1998 and Stevedoring Levy (Imposition) Bill 1998 |
“ |
Legal and Constitutional Legislation |
Report—Estimates 10998-99 |
24.6 |
Scrutiny of Bills |
7th Report and Alert Digest No. 8 of 1998 |
“ |
Regulations and Ordinances |
105th Report |
“ |
Regulations and Ordinances |
Conference Paper |
“ |
Native Title and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Land Fund |
13th Report—Annual reports |
“ |
Economics Legislation |
Report—Trade Practices Amendment (Country of
Origin Representations) Bill 1998 |
24.6 |
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport
Legislation |
Report—Primary Industries and Energy
Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 3) 1997 |
25.6 |
Scrutiny of Bills |
8th Report of 1998 |
“ |
Legal and Constitutional References |
Report—Australian Legal Aid
System—Third Report |
“ |
Community Affairs Legislation |
Additional Information—Health Legislation
Amendment (Health Care Agreements) Bill 1998 |
30.6 |
Privileges |
72nd Report—Possible improper action against
a person (Dr W. De Maria) |
“ |
Privileges |
73rd Report—Possible improper interference
with a potential witness before the Joint Committee on Native Title
and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Land Fund |
“ |
Regulations and Ordinances |
Provisions in Legislative
Instruments—Document |
“ |
Regulations and Ordinances |
Great Barrier Reef Zoning
Plans—Document |
“ |
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport
References |
Report—Commercial Utilisation of Australian
Native Wildlife |
“ |
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport
Legislation |
Report—Wheat Marketing Legislation Amendment
Bill 1998 |
1.7 |
Scrutiny of Bills |
9th Report and Alert Digest No. 9 of 1998 |
“ |
Regulations and Ordinances |
Work of the Committee During the Autumn and Winter
Sittings 1998—Document |
“ |
Legal and Constitutional Legislation |
Additional Information—Estimates
1998-99 |
2.7 |
Publications |
18th Report |
“ |
Economics References |
Report—Outworkers in the Garment
Industry—Review |
2.7 |
Finance and Public Administration Legislation |
Additional Information—Estimates
1998-99 |
“ |
Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport
References |
Report—Ovine Johne's Disease in the
Australian Sheep Flock |
“ |
Finance and Public Administration References |
Second Report—Indexed Lists of Departmental
Files |
8.7 |
Legal and Constitutional Legislation |
Additional Information—Estimates
1998-99 |
“ |
Economics Legislation |
Report—Taxation Laws Amendment (Part-Time
Students) Bill 1997 |
12.7 |
Environment, Recreation, Communications and the
Arts References |
Report—Access to Heritage |
“ |
Superannuation |
31st Report—Resolving Superannuation
Complaints |
Vacancy
The vacancy caused by the resignation of Senator Bob Collins was
filled in time for Senator Crossin to take her seat in the Senate
on 22 June. Vacancies in the representation of the Northern
Territory are filled by the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
subject to the same conditions as apply to state senators under
section 15 of the Constitution.
Inquiries: Clerk's Office
(02) 6277 3364