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No. 28/2009
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The Senate met from 9.30am until 9.22pm
The
Senate will meet again on 15 June
2009. Senate legislation committees will meet from 25 May
to 5 June 2009 to consider Budget
estimates.
Budget 2009-10
Budget Papers, Portfolio Budget Statements and related sites
<www.budget.gov.au>
The
Opposition, the Leader of the
Australian Greens and the Leader of the
Family First Party responded to the Budget statement and
documents.
Legislation
Bills and related documents available on BillsNet <www.aph.gov.au/bills/index.htm>
Bills considered
The following bills were introduced
- Environment Protection (Beverage Container Deposit and Recovery
Scheme) Bill 2009 [private senator's bill]
- Nation-building Funds Amendment Bill 2009 [passed by the House
of Representatives on 13 May 2009]
- National Health Amendment (Pharmaceutical and Other Benefits
Cost Recovery) Bill 2008 [No. 2] [passed by the House of
Representatives on 13 May 2009]
- Parliamentary Superannuation Amendment (Removal of Excessive
Super) Bill 2009 [private senator's bill]
The following bills were exempted from the cut-off order [to
enable consideration in this period of sittings]
- Financial Assistance Legislation Amendment Bill 2009
- Social Security and Family Assistance Legislation Amendment
(2009 Budget Measures) Bill 2009
- Tax Laws Amendment (Small Business and General Business Tax
Break) Bill 2009
The following bills were debated
- Australian Business Investment Partnership Bill 2009 committee
of the whole commenced 6 Family First and 3 Senator Xenophon
amendments agreed to [further amendments remain to be
considered]
Australian Business Investment Partnership (Consequential
Amendment) Bill 2009
The following bill was introduced and passed
- Tax Laws Amendment (Small Business and General Business Tax
Break) Bill 2009 [This bill will now be assented to] [Senator Abetz
made a
statement in relation to the bill]
The following bills were passed
- Customs Amendment (Enhanced Border Controls and Other Measures)
Bill 2008 [This bill will now be assented to]
- Customs Legislation Amendment (Name Change) Bill 2009 [This
bill will now be assented to]
- Employment and Workplace Relations Amendment Bill 2008
5 Government amendments and 3 Government requests for
amendments agreed to a message was reported advising that the House
had made the amendments requested by the Senate the third reading
of the bill was agreed to [The House of Representatives will now
consider the amendments made by the Senate]
- Financial Assistance Legislation Amendment Bill 2009 [This bill
will now be assented to]
- Social Security and Family Assistance Legislation Amendment
(2009 Budget Measures) Bill 2009 [This bill will now be assented
to]
- Telecommunications Interception Legislation Amendment Bill (No.
2) 2008 [This bill will now be assented to]
Notice of motion to introduce a private senator's
bill
- Infrastructure Australia Amendment (National Broadband Network
and Other Projects) Bill 2009 notice given by the Leader of the
Opposition in the Senate (Senator Minchin)
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
Estimates
Additional information arising from estimates hearings was
tabled.
Reports tabled
- Appropriations and Staffing Committee 47th report Estimates for
the Department of the Senate 2009-10
- Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee
Reporting of sports news and the emergence of digital media [a
motion was moved to take note of the report]
- Publications Committee
10th Report [report adopted]
Documents tabled
- Community Affairs Committee Grasping the opportunity of Opal:
Assessing the impact of the petrol sniffing strategy Additional
information
Government response tabled
- Community Affairs Committee Building trust: Supporting families
through disability trusts
New inquiries
Selection of Bills Committee report
The Senate adopted
report no. 5 of the Selection of Bills Committee, and made the
following references:
- AusCheck Amendment Bill 2009 Legal and Constitutional Affairs
Legislation Committee to report by 16 June 2009
- Health Workforce Australia Bill 2009 Community Affairs
Legislation Committee to report by 15 June 2009
- Nation Building Program (National Land Transport) Amendment
Bill 2009 Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation
Committee to report by 15 June 2009
Other references
-
Any bills introduced into the House of Representatives that
form part of the Government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
Economics Legislation Committee to report by 15 June 2009
-
Any budget-related bills introduced into the Parliament after
12 May 2009 and before 5 June 2009 that are proposed to commence
prior to 11 August 2009 Committees to report by 16 June 2009
-
Relationship between the Central Land Council and Centrecorp
Aboriginal Investment Corporation Pty Ltd Finance and Public
Administration References Committee to report by 11 August
2009
Public meeting
The Senate authorised the Economics Legislation Committee to
hold a public meeting while the Senate is sitting on 22 June 2009
from 12.30pm for the committee's inquiry into matters arising from
consideration of the 2009-10 Budget estimates.
Reporting dates extended
The Senate extended reporting dates for the following
inquiries:
- Economics Legislation Committee 2009-10 Budget estimates to
report by 25 June 2009
- Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee
Import risk analysis for the importation of Cavendish bananas from
the Philippines to report by 22 May 2009
Variation of appointment and reporting date
The Senate
varied its resolution of 25 June 2008 appointing the National
Broadband Network Select Committee and extended the reporting date
to 23 November 2009.
Membership
The Senate agreed to various changes to committee membership
[see Journals entries nos
20 and
53].
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]
Motion to disapprove defeated
The Senate did not agree to a
motion which would have disapproved Part 3 (clauses 3.1 to 3.3)
of
Remuneration Tribunal Determination 2009/04 [first
speaker].
Orders for the production of documents Orders with
continuing effect
Departmental and agency appointments
A statement of compliance for the Broadband, Communications and
the Digital Economy portfolio was 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
A statement of compliance for the Department of Broadband,
Communications and the Digital Economy was 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
- Correction to the 2009-10 portfolio budget statements for the
Attorney-General's portfolio
-
2 petitions
Other business
Questions without notice and issues arising during question time
first question
Adjournment debate
first speaker
Motions agreed to
Motion negatived
-
Tasmanian Department of Environment, Parks, Heritage and the
Arts moved by the Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Bob
Brown) and Senator Milne
Motion debated
Personal explanation
Senator Fierravanti-Wells made a
personal explanation about comments made by the Parliamentary
Secretary for Government Service Delivery (Senator Arbib) during
discussion of a matter of public importance on
12 May 2009 concerning people smuggling. Senator Arbib made a
response.
Notices of motion
Notices of motion given today are available in the Senate
Journals.
Statistics
Statistics on the work of the Senate this week will be available
in the Statistical
Summary, which forms part of StatsNet the
Department of the Senate's online statistical collection.
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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 3021
e-mail: sds@aph.gov.au