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page | Senate Daily Summary
No. 21/2009
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The Senate met from 12.00 noon until 11.28pm
Legislation
Bills and related documents available on BillsNet <www.aph.gov.au/bills/index.htm>
Bills considered
The following private senator's bill was introduced
- Food Safety (Trans Fats) Bill 2009
The following bills were debated
- Customs Tariff Amendment (2009 Measures No. 1) Bill 2009
Excise Tariff Amendment (2009 Measures No. 1) Bill 2009
Second reading agreed to [first
speaker] 1 Opposition
second reading amendment agreed to [expressing a view about the
policy of the bills]
Committee of the whole commenced
20 Opposition requests for amendments agreed to
Notice of motion to exempt bills from the cut-off
order [to enable consideration this period of
sittings]
- Appropriation Bill (No. 5) 2008-2009
Appropriation Bill (No. 6) 2008-2009
- Australian Business Investment Partnership Bill 2009 and a
related bill
- Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Political Donations and Other
Measures) Bill 2009
- Social Security Amendment (Liquid Assets Waiting Period) Bill
2009
- Social Security and Veterans' Entitlements Amendment
(Commonwealth Seniors Health Card) Bill 2009
- Tax Laws Amendment (2009 Measures No. 1) Bill 2009
See Committees for details of reports
relating to legislation
Committees
For scheduled public
committee hearings
For committee
reports
Reports tabled
Report on legislation
-
Excise Tariff Amendment (2009 Measures No. 1) Bill 2009 and
Customs Tariff Amendment (2009 Measures No. 1) Bill 2009 Community
Affairs Committee
Other reports
- Treaties Joint Committee
-
98th report Treaties tabled on 26 November 2008 and
4 December 2008
-
99th report Treaties tabled on 3 December 2008 and 3 February
2009
[a
motion to take note of the reports was agreed to]
Document tabled
- National Broadband Network Select Committee
Correction to interim report
Amendment to terms of reference
The Senate agreed to a motion to
amend the terms of reference for the inquiry of the
Corporations and Financial Services Joint Committee into financial
products and services in Australia.
Public meeting
The Senate authorised the Electoral Matters Joint Committee to
hold a public meeting while the Senate is sitting on 17 March 2009
for the committee's inquiry into the 2007 Federal Election,
including the Commonwealth Electoral (Above-the-Line Voting)
Amendment Bill 2008.
Notices of motion given
To extend reporting deadlines
- Community Affairs Committee Implementation of recommendations
of committee reports on child migration and Australians who
experienced institutional or out-of-home car as children to report
by 25 June 2009
- Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee Water
Amendment (Saving the Goulburn and Murray Rivers) Bill 2008 to
report by 7 May 2009
To hold meetings when the Senate is sitting
- Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee 19 March 2009 In
camera hearing from 5.00pm Economic and security challenges facing
Papua New Guinea and the island states of the southwest
Pacific
- Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Joint Committee 19 March
2009 from 10.00am Human rights mechanisms and the Asia-Pacific
- Treaties Joint Committee 17 March 2009 Private meeting
otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
To vary the order appointing a committee
- Climate Policy Select Committee
notice given by the Minister for Human Services (Senator
Ludwig)
Membership
The Senate agreed to various changes to committee
membership.
Messages from the House of Representatives were reported
advising of various changes to joint committees.
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]
Notices of motion to disallow given
The Chair of the Standing Committee on Regulations and
Ordinances gave
notices to disallow the following delegated legislation:
Orders for the production of documents
Document tabled
The Minister for Human Services (Senator Ludwig) tabled an
interim response to an order of the Senate agreed to on
11 March 2009 for the production of documents relating to
private health insurance.
Order with continuing effect
Indexed lists of departmental and agency files published on
the Internet
Statements of compliance for
various agencies were tabled [Letters of advice about certain
files created by departments and agencies are required
to be tabled twice a year]
Documents tabled
- Australian Parliamentary Delegation Report Egypt and Israel 24
October to 6 November 2008 [a motion to take note of the
report was debated and agreed to
first speaker]
-
Government document
Ministerial statement tabled
The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research
(Senator Carr) tabled a ministerial statement on the agreement
establishing the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand free trade area,
together with the agreement [a motion was moved to take note of the
statement].
Other business
Questions without notice and issues arising during question time
first question
Adjournment debate
first speaker
Motion agreed to
Motion debated
The Senate discussed
matters relating to the oil and chemical spill on the
south-east Queensland coast, raised by the Leader of the Australian
Greens (Senator Bob Brown) as a matter of public importance.
[first
speaker]
Questions on notice Failure to provide
answers
Senator Ronaldson asked the following Ministers why answers had
not been provided to
various questions on notice
- Immigration and Citizenship (Senator Evans) [explanation]
- Human Services (Senator Ludwig) [explanation]
- Special Minister of State (Senator Faulkner) [explanation]
- Climate Change and Water (Senator Wong) [explanation]
- Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (Senator Carr)
[explanation]
- Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Senator
Conroy) [explanation]
- Superannuation and Corporate Law (Senator Sherry) [explanation]
Explanations were provided, and a motion moved by Senator
Ronaldson to take note of the explanations was debated and agreed
to [first
speaker].
Notices of motion
Notices of motion given today are available in the Senate
Journals.
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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