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page | Senate Daily Summary
No. 65/2008
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The Senate met from 12.30pm until 10.34pm
Legislation
Bills and related documents available on BillsNet <www.aph.gov.au/bills/index.htm>
Bills considered
The following bills were introduced
- Financial Transaction Reports Amendment (Transitional
Arrangements) Bill 2008
- Tax Laws Amendment (Medicare Levy Surcharge Thresholds) Bill
(No. 2) 2008
- Tax Laws Amendment (Political Contributions and Gifts) Bill
2008
[passed by the House of Representatives on 13 October 2008]
The following bills were exempted from the cut-off order [to
enable consideration in 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
The following bills were debated
- Family Law Amendment (De Facto Financial Matters and Other
Measures) Bill 2008–second reading debate commenced [first
speaker]
- Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth
Laws—Superannuation) Bill 2008–second reading debate
commenced [first
speaker]
The following bills were passed
- Migration Amendment (Notification Review) Bill 2008 [This bill
will now be assented to]
- Safe Work Australia Bill 2008–7
Opposition amendments agreed to, 1 subclause negatived
[The House of Representatives will now consider the amendments made
by the Senate]
Safe Work Australia (Consequential and Transitional Provisions)
Bill 2008 [This bill will now be assented to]
Change to hours of meeting
The Senate agreed to vary the
hours of meeting for 14 October 2008 to enable the
Government’s legislative program to be considered.
See Committees for details of reports
relating to legislation
Committees
For scheduled public
committee hearings
For committee
reports
Reports tabled
Reports on legislation
-
Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Laws Bill 2008 [No.
2]–Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee [A motion to
take note of the report was
debated]
-
National Fuelwatch (Empowering Consumers) Bill 2008 and a
related bill–Economics Committee
-
Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth
Laws—General Law Reform) Bill 2008–Legal and
Constitutional Affairs Committee
-
Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth
Laws—Superannuation) Bill 2008, and related bills introduced
to give effect to the recommendations of the Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission’s report Same Sex: Same Entitlements
and related matters–Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Committee
Other reports
- Intelligence and Security Joint Committee–
-
Annual report of committee activities 2007-2008
-
Review of the re-listing of Al-Qa’ida, Jemaah Islamiyah
and Al-Qa’ida in the Lands of Islamic Maghreb
- Procedure Committee–Second
report of 2008–Questions to chairs of committees and
other senators
Documents tabled
- Community Affairs Committee–Draft National Health
(Pharmaceutical Benefits — Charges) Regulations
2008–Additional information
Transfer of reference to another
committee
The Senate agreed to transfer the inquiry of the Economics
Committee into residential and community aged care in Australia to
the Finance and Public Administration Committee.
Public meetings
The Senate authorised the following public meetings to be held
while 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
Reporting dates extended
The Senate extended reporting dates for the following
inquiries:
- 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
organisations–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 of February 2009
Notice of motion given
A notice of motion was given to authorise the Community Affairs
Committee to hold a public meeting while the Senate is sitting on
16 October 2008 from 3.30pm for the committee’s inquiries
into the Poker Machine Harm Reduction Tax (Administration) Bill
2008, the Poker Machine Harm Minimisation Bill 2008 and the ATMs
and Cash Facilities in Licensed Venues Bill 2008.
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]
Orders for the production of documents–Orders
with continuing effect
Departmental and agency appointments
Statements of compliance for
various agencies were tabled [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 grants
Statements of compliance for
various agencies were tabled [Lists of all grants approved are
required to be tabled 7 days before the commencement of budget,
supplementary budget and additional estimates hearings]
Documents tabled
Other business
Questions without notice and issues arising during question
time–first
question
Adjournment debate–first
speaker
Motions agreed to
Motions negatived
Death of former member
The Deputy President informed the Senate of the death on 30
September 2008 of Stephen Edward Calder, a member of the House of
Representatives for the division of Northern Territory from 1966 to
1980. Senator Scullion made a
statement relating to Mr Calder.
Notices of motion
Notices of motion given today are available in the Senate
Journals.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
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 3021
e-mail: sds@aph.gov.au