Thursday, 30 November 2006

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No. 87/2006

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The Senate met from 9.30am until 11.32pm

Legislation

For full text of bills and other associated documents

Bills considered

The following bills were introduced

• Australian Citizenship Bill 2006 and a related bill [passed by the House of Representatives on 28 November 2006]
• Australian Securities and Investments Commission Amendment (Audit Inspection) Bill 2006 [passed by the House of Representatives on 29 November 2006]
• Climate Change Action Bill 2006 [private senator’s bill]
• Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Legislation Amendment Bill 2006 [passed by the House of Representatives on 29 November 2006]
• Datacasting Transmitter Licence Fees Bill 2006 and a related bill [passed by the House of Representatives on 29 November 2006]
• Migration Legislation Amendment (Restoration of Fair Process) Bill 2006 [private senator’s bill]

The following bills were debated

• Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change (Kyoto Protocol Ratification) Bill 2006 [No. 2]–second reading debate continued [private senator’s bill] [first speaker]
• Copyright Amendment Bill 2006–committee of the whole commenced–80 Government amendments agreed to
• Environment and Heritage Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2006–second reading agreed to [first speaker] [details of the bill will be considered on a future sitting day]
• Medibank Private Sale Bill 2006–second reading debate continued [first speaker]

The following bills were passed

• Datacasting Transmitter Licence Fees Bill 2006 and a related bill [These bills will now be assented to]
• Telecommunications Amendment (Integrated Public Number Database) Bill 2006 [This bill will now be assented to]

Message from the House of Representatives

• Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (2006 Budget Measures) Bill 2006–agreeing to the amendments made by the Senate [This bill will now be assented to]

See Committees for details of reports relating to legislation

Delegated legislation

See Disallowance Alert for a complete list of notices of motion to disallow (and outcomes)

Notices of motion to disallow given

The Chair of the Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances gave notices to disallow the following delegated legislation:

• regulations to amend the A New Tax System (Commonwealth-State Financial Arrangements) Regulations 2003 by extending the years for transitional GST assistance to 30 June 2009
• Code of Practice providing practical guidance relating to the identification, assessment and control of risks arising from manual handling activity in a maritime environment
• instrument revoking the Approved Form for Application for Initial Approval as a Rehabilitation Program Provider and providing the approved form for the purposes of persons applying as a rehabilitation program provider
• instrument providing the approved form for persons applying for renewal of approval as a rehabilitation program provider
• determination amending schedule 4 of determination HIB 20/2006 (made under the National Health Act 1953) to correct an administrative oversight in the making of the determination
• instrument prohibiting foreign exchange transactions in Australia, or involving Australian residents outside of Australia, that are in some way related to certain persons associated with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
• specification prescribing courses that an applicant seeking to be registered as a migration agent must have completed in order to be registered
• determination providing guidelines for the exercise of the power to give public interest certificates for the purposes of paragraph 208(1)(a) of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 by the Secretary of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations
• instrument varying section 34D of the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 to provide the criteria for approval or renewal of approval of rehabilitation providers

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

Committees

For scheduled public committee hearings

For committee reports

Estimates

Additional information arising from estimates hearings was tabled:

Budget estimates 2006-07:

• Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee
• Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee

Report tabled

• Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Legislation Amendment Bill 2006–Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Committee

Government responses

The following government responses to committee reports were tabled:

• Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee–Defence Legislation Amendment (Aid to Civilian Authorities) Bill 2005
• Legal and Constitutional References Committee–The real Big Brother: Inquiry into the Privacy Act 1988

Public meeting

The Senate authorised the Economics Committee to hold a public meeting while the Senate is sitting on 7 December 2006 from 3.30pm to further consider the 2006-07 supplementary Budget estimates.

Reporting date extended

The Senate agreed to extend the reporting date for the inquiry of the Economics Committee into petrol pricing in Australia to 7 December 2006.

Other debates and motions

The Senate agreed to motions about:

• Human rights in Vietnam–moved by Senator Humphries
• International Day of People with Disability–moved by Senators McLucas and Bartlett
• Parliamentary zone–to approve a proposal to provide directional and interpretive signage in the Parliamentary Zone–moved by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration
• Ramsar wetlands in Australia–moved by Senator Siewert
• World AIDS Day–moved by Senators Payne and Stott Despoja

The Senate did not agree to motions about:

• Carbon dioxide emissions–moved by Senator Allison
• Donations, loans and gifts from developers to candidates or political parties–moved by Senator Murray
• Environmental assessments and climate change–moved by Senator Nettle
• Wheat exports–moved by Senators Murray and Siewert

Notices of motion

For other notices of motion not mentioned elsewhere

Documents

The following documents were tabled:

• Clerk’s documents [legislative instruments and other documents required by statute to be tabled]
• Issues from the Advance to the Finance Minister as a final charge for the year ended 30 June 2006
• 4 petitions

Also in the Senate yesterday

• The President informed the Senate that he would be absent from the Senate on 1 December 2006, to attend a special sitting of the Parliament of Tasmania to mark 150 years since the bicameral parliament as established in 1856. A related motion moved by the Minister for Justice and Customs was debated and agreed to. [First speaker]
• Questions without notice and debate on issues arising in Question Time [first question]
• Committee reports, government responses and Auditor-General’s reports were discussed [first speaker]
• Adjournment debate [first speaker]

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Online

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

It is issued by the Senate Table 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, on the Internet at http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/pubs/index.htm

Related resources

The Order of Business (or ‘Senate Red’) and the Dynamic Red (which updates the Order of Business throughout the sitting day) are also available on the Internet at www.aph.gov.au/senate

Contact details

Inquiries, comments and suggestions: phone 6277 3015

e-mail: sds@aph.gov.au