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Thursday 10 March 2005


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No. 15/2005

The Senate met from 9.30am until 7.05pm

Legislation

For full text of bills and other associated documents click here

The following bills were introduced in the Senate

  • Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) 2004-2005
  • Appropriation (Tsunami Financial Assistance) Bill 2004-2005
  • Appropriation (Tsunami Financial Assistance and Australia-Indonesia Partnership) Bill 2004-2005
  • Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2004-2005
  • Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2004-2005
  • Australian Institute of Marine Science Amendment Bill 2005
  • Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2005

The following bill was considered

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Amendment Bill 2004 [2005]–second reading debate continued [together with debate on a second reading amendment moved by the Opposition, Democrats and Australian Greens expressing a view about the bill’s policy]

The following bills were passed

With amendments

  • Broadcasting Services Amendment (Anti-Siphoning) Bill 2004–2 Opposition amendments agreed to [The House of Representatives will now consider the amendments made by the Senate]
  • Parliamentary Service Amendment Bill 2005–3 Opposition amendments agreed to [The House of Representatives will now consider the bill as amended by the Senate]

The following message from the House of Representatives was reported

  • National Health Amendment (Prostheses) Bill 2005–The message reported that the House of Representatives had agreed to the amendments made by the Senate [The bill will now be assented to]

Notice of motion given

To exempt bills from the cut-off order [to enable consideration this period of sittings]

  • Appropriation (Tsunami Financial Assistance) Bill 2004-2005
  • Appropriation (Tsunami Financial Assistance and Australia-Indonesia Partnership) Bill 2004-2005

See the Committees section for details of reports relating to legislation

Delegated legislation

For a complete list of notices of motion to disallow (and outcomes) click here

See the Documents section for details of instruments [Clerk’s documents] tabled

Committees

For scheduled public committee hearings click here

For committee reports click here

Estimates

Additional information tabled

  • Budget estimates 2004-05–Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee

Reports tabled

  • A lost opportunity? Australian Communications and Media Authority Bill 2004 and related bills and matters–Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts References Committee
  • Criminal Code Amendment (Trafficking in Persons Offences) Bill 2004 [2005]–Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee
  • Indigenous education–Interim report–Employment, Workplace Relations and Education References Committee

Government responses to committee reports tabled

  • Corporations and Financial Services Joint Committee–CLERP (Audit Reform and Corporate Disclosure) Bill 2003–Parts 1 and 2
  • Economics References Committee–Public liability and professional indemnity insurance
  • Finance and Public Administration References Committee–Recruitment and training in the Australian Pubic Service
  • Public Accounts and Audit Joint Committee–391st report–Review of independent auditing by registered company auditors

Statement

Senator Watson made a statement about the nomination of a new Commonwealth Auditor-General, pursuant to subsection 8A(7) of the Public Accounts and Audit Committee Act 1951.

Membership

The Senate agreed to the following changes and appointments to committee membership:

  • Economics Legislation Committee–Senator Lundy to replace Senator Webber for the committee’s inquiry into the Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2005
  • Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee–Senator Bartlett to replace Senator Ridgeway for the committee’s inquiry into duties of Australian personnel in Iraq
  • Mental Health Select Committee–Senators Forshaw, Humphries, Moore, Scullion, Troeth and Webber appointed
  • Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee–Senator Bartlett to replace Senator Cherry for the committee’s inquiry into the Border Protection Legislation Amendment (Deterrence of Illegal Foreign Fishing) Bill 2005

Motion to refer a matter to a committee defeated

The Senate defeated a motion by Senator Brown to refer the matter of Australian involvement in rendition and the practice of torture overseas to the Legal and Constitutional References Committee

Notice of motion given

To refer a matter to a committee

  • Performance of the Australian telecommunications regulatory regime and related matters–Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts References Committee–to report by 23 June 2005

Motions agreed to

The Senate agreed to motions about:

Ministerial statement

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry tabled a ministerial statement and annual statement about Australia’s development cooperation program. The Senate debated a motion (moved by Senator Nettle) to take note of the statements. The motion was agreed to.

Motion debated

The Senate debated a motion moved by Senator Ludwig about the Australian economy [link to first speaker]

Notices of motion

For other notices of motion not mentioned elsewhere click here

Orders for the production of documents

Motions agreed to

  • The Senate ordered the tabling of a report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) concerning the competition notice issued to Telstra by the ACCC on 19 March 2004 and the decision of the ACCC to resolve the matter without litigation (no later than 3.30pm on 17 March 2005)–-moved by Senator Conroy
  • The Senate ordered the tabling of a report from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) giving details about the agreement made with Telstra to deal with certain matters following the issue of the competition notice to Telstra by the ACCC on 19 March 2004 (no later than 3.30pm on 10 May 2005)–moved by Senator Conroy

Orders with continuing effect

Indexed lists of departmental and agency files published on the internet

Statements of compliance for the Employment and Workplace Relations portfolio agencies and the Official Secretary to the Governor-General were tabled [Letters of advice about certain files created by departments and agencies required to be tabled twice yearly; Senate order agreed to]

Documents

The following documents were tabled:

No petitions were received

No government documents were tabled

Also in the Senate yesterday

  • Questions without notice and debate on issues arising in Question Time
  • Government documents, committee reports, government responses and Auditor-General’s reports were discussed
  • Adjournment debate [link to first speaker]

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The Senate Daily Summary is available on the Internet at www.aph.gov.au/senate

Enquiries, comments and suggestions: phone 6277 3209

e-mail: sds@aph.gov.au

This publication is issued by the Senate Procedure Office as a convenient summary of each day’s proceedings in the Senate. For a complete account see the official record, the Journals of the Senate, copies of which may be obtained from the Senate Table Office (phone: 6277 3010) or on the Internet at http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/pubs/index.htm.

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