Monday, 13 October 2008

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No. 64/2008

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The Senate met from 12.30pm until 10.19pm

Legislation

Bills and related documents available on BillsNet <www.aph.gov.au/bills/index.htm>

Bills considered

The following bill was introduced

• Migration Amendment (Notification Review) Bill 2008 [passed by the House of Representatives on 24 September 2008]

The following bills were debated

• Safe Work Australia Bill 2008 and a related bill–second reading agreed to [first speaker ] and committee of the whole commenced–1 Opposition, 1 Australian Greens and 3 Senator Xenophon amendments agreed to, 12 subclauses and 1 Division negatived

Notices of motion

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

• Migration Amendment (Notification Review) Bill 2008
• Migration Legislation Amendment (Worker Protection) Bill 2008
• Tax Laws Amendment (Medicare Levy Surcharge Thresholds) Bill (No. 2) 2008

To vary the hours of meeting

A notice was given by the Minister for Human Services (Senator Ludwig) to vary the hours of meeting for 14 October 2008 to enable the Government’s legislative program to be considered.

Bills assented to

Assent to a number of laws was reported in the Senate

See Committees for details of reports relating to legislation

Committees

For scheduled public committee hearings
For committee reports

Reports tabled

Reports on legislation

• Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Radio) Bill 2008–Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee
• Emergency Water (Murray-Darling Basin Rescue) Bill 2008 and matters specified in part (1) of the inquiry into the management of the Murray-Darling Basin system–Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee–Interim report and Final report [A motion to take note of the final report was debated]
• Horse Disease Response Levy Bill 2008 and 2 related bills–Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee–Interim report [reporting date for the final report extended to 13 November 2008]
• Tax Laws Amendment (2008 Measures No. 5) Bill 2008–Economics Committee–Interim report [reporting date for the final report extended to 10 November 2008]
• Tax Laws Amendment (Education Refund) Bill 2008–Economics Committee

Other reports

• Community Affairs Committee–Draft National Health (Pharmaceutical Benefits — Charges) Regulations 2008
• Regional and Remote Indigenous Communities Select Committee–First report

Notices of motion given

To extend reporting deadlines:

• Economics Committee–
  • Australia’s mandatory Last Resort Home Warranty Insurance scheme–to report by 13 November 2008
  • Australia’s space science and industry sector–to report by 12 November 2008
  • Disclosure regimes for charities and not-for-profit organizations–to report by 4 December 2008
• Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Committee–Academic freedom in school and higher education–to report by 27 November 2008
• Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee–
  • Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management (Repeal and Consequential Amendment) Bill 2008–to report by 4 December 2008
  • Effectiveness of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and other programs in protecting threatened species and ecological communities–to report by the last sitting day in February 2009

To hold meetings when the Senate is sitting:

• Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Committee–16 October 2008 from 10.00am–Academic freedom in school and higher education
• Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee–16 October 2008 from 4.30pm–Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment (Feed-in-Tariff) Bill 2008

To transfer a reference to another committee:

• Residential and community aged care in Australia–to be transferred from the Economics Committee to the Finance and Public Administration Committee

Membership

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

• Corporations and Financial Services Joint Committee–Senator Coonan discharged
• Scrutiny of Bills Committee–Senator Ellison discharged and Senator Coonan appointed

Documents

Delegated legislation

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

• Clerk’s documents were tabled [legislative instruments and other documents required by statute to be tabled, including Governor-General’s Proclamations]

Notices of motion to disallow given

The Chair of the Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances (Senator Wortley) gave notices of motion to disallow various legislative instruments.

Notices of motion withdrawn

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

• Higher Education in External Territories Guidelines 2008
• Social Security (Public Interest Certificate Guidelines) (DEEWR) Amendment Determination 2008

Orders for the production of documents

Notice of motion given

Senator Xenophon gave a notice of motion to require a report by the Productivity Commission on matters relating to public and private hospitals to be tabled by 1 November 2009.

Orders with continuing effect

Departmental and agency appointments
Statements of compliance for various agencies were tabled [see Journals entries 22 and 26] [Lists of appointments made and existing vacancies are required to be tabled 7 days before the commencement of budget, supplementary budget and additional estimates hearings]

Departmental and agency contracts published on the Internet
A statement of compliance for the Department of Climate Change was tabled [Letters of advice about certain contracts valued at $100 000 or more entered into by departments and agencies are required to be tabled twice a year]

Departmental and agency grants
Statements of compliance for various agencies were tabled [see Journals entries 23 and 27] [Lists of all grants approved are required to be tabled 7 days before the commencement of budget, supplementary budget and additional estimates hearings]

Indexed lists of departmental and agency files published on the Internet
Statements of compliance for various agencies were tabled [see Journals entries 20 and 25] [Letters of advice about certain files created by departments and agencies are required to be tabled twice a year]

Documents tabled

• Auditor-General–Audit report no. 6 of 2008-09
• Government documents

Ministerial statements tabled

The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Senator Conroy) tabled ministerial statements about:

• Bipartisan NT Indigenous aged care services visit
• Runway End Safety Area project at Sydney airport

Other business

Questions without notice and issues arising during question time–first question
Adjournment debate–first speaker

Motions agreed to

• Abolition of the death penalty–moved by Senator Hanson-Young
• Parliamentary zone–to approve a  proposal relating to the National Portrait Gallery forecourt sculpture–moved by the Minister for Human Services (Senator Ludwig)
• Sugarloaf Pipeline from the Goulburn Valley to Melbourne–moved by the Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Bob Brown)

Motion negatived

• Implementation of a curfew at Canberra airport–moved by the Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Bob Brown)

Death of former senator

The President informed the Senate of the death on 29 September 2008 of Dr Glenister Fermoy Sheil, a senator for the state of Queensland from 1974 to 1981 and from 1984 to 1990. A motion was moved by the Leader of the Government in the Senate (Senator Evans) and supported.

Notices of motion

Notices of motion given today are available in the Senate Journals.

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