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Senate Daily Summary
No. 34/2011
Thursday, 7 July 2011
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The Senate met from 9.30 am until 6.52 pm
The Senate has now completed the winter sittings and will commence the spring sittings on 16 August 2011.
Legislation
Bills and related documents
Bills considered
The following bills were introduced
- Customs Amendment (New Zealand Rules of Origin) Bill 2011 [passed by the House of Representatives on 6 July 2011]
- Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill 2011 [passed by the House of Representatives on 6 July 2011]
- Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Registration Fees) Amendment Bill 2011 and 2 related bills [passed by the House of Representatives on 6 July 2011]
The following private senator’s bills were debated
- Carbon Tax Plebiscite Bill 2011 [No. 2]–second reading debate commenced [first speaker ]
- Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Approval of Overseas Service) Bill 2010 [No. 2]–second reading debate commenced [first speaker ]
The following bills were passed
- Child Support (Registration and Collection) Amendment Bill 2011–1 Senator Xenophon amendment agreed to [The House of Representatives will now consider the amendment made by the Senate]
- Financial Framework Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
- Protection of the Sea (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Amendment (Oil Transfers) Bill 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
Message from the House of Representatives
- Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2011–agreeing to the bill without amendments [The bill will now be assented to]
See Committees for details of reports relating to legislation
Committees
Scheduled public committee hearings
Committee reports
Estimates
The Community Affairs Legislation Committee tabled a report into the 2011-12 Budget estimates. [report]
Additional information arising from estimates hearings was tabled.
Reports tabled
Report on legislation
- Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Amendment Bill 2011–Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee [report]
Other reports
- Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity Joint Committee–Inquiry into the operation of the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006 [report] [a motion to take note of the report was debated and agreed to – first speaker]
- Electoral Matters Joint Committee–2010 Federal election: Report on the conduct of the election and related matters [report] [a motion to take note of the report was debated – first speaker]
- Publications Committee–7th report [report] [a motion to adopt the report was agreed to]
Document tabled
- President of the Senate–Report to the Senate on government responses outstanding to parliamentary committee reports as at 6 July 2011
New inquiries
Selection of Bills Committee report
The Senate adopted report no. 9 of 2011 of the Selection of Bills Committee, and made the following references:
- Bankruptcy Amendment (Exceptional Circumstances Exit Package) Bill 2011–Economics Legislation Committee–to report by 21 September 2011
- Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Fees) Bill 2011–Economics Legislation Committee–to report by 14 September 2011
- Government Advertising (Accountability) Bill 2011–Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee–to report by 21 September 2011
- Public Service Amendment (Payments in Special Circumstances) Bill 2011–Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee–to report by 16 August 2011
- Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2011–Schedule 3–Community Affairs Legislation Committee–to report by 15 September 2011
- Work Health and Safety Bill 2011 and a related bill–Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee–to report by 26 August 2011
The report also noted that the Interactive Gambling and Broadcasting Amendment (Online Transactions and Other Measures) Bill 2011 was referred to the Gambling Reform Joint Select Committee pursuant to that committee’s resolution of appointment.
Meetings during the sitting of the Senate
The Senate authorised the following meetings to be held while the Senate is sitting:
- Australia’s Food Processing Sector Select Committee–7 July 2011–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
- Rural Affairs and Transport References Committee–7 July 2011 from 4.45 pm–Biosecurity and quarantine arrangements–public hearing
- Scrutiny of New Taxes Select Committee–7 July 2011 from 1.45 pm–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
Reporting date extended
The Senate extended the reporting date for the inquiry of the Senators’ Interests Committee into the development of a draft code of conduct for senators to 28 November 2011.
Membership
The Senate agreed to various changes to committee membership [see Journals entries nos 46 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]
Proposed order for the production of documents
The Senate did not agree to a motion ordering documents relating to the Australia Network tender process to be tabled.
Documents tabled
- Australian parliamentary delegation–123rd Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly, Geneva, Switzerland, and meetings with international organisations, Paris, France–1 to 11 October 2010–Report [a motion to take note of the report was agreed to]
- Department of Defence–Special purpose flights–Schedule for the period 1 July to 31 December 2010
- Department of Finance and Deregulation–
- Former parliamentarians’ expenditure on entitlements–1 July to 31 December 2010
- Parliamentarians’ expenditure on entitlements–1 July to 31 December 2010
- HMAS Success Commission of Inquiry–Allegations of unacceptable behavior and the management thereof–Part two: The management of the allegations and personnel involved–Report of the Commissioner
- Parliamentarians’ overseas study travel reports–1 July to 31 December 2010
- Review of the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002 and the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002–Report
Documents discussed
Government documents, committee reports, government responses and Auditor-General’s reports were discussed
Ministerial statements tabled
The Minister for Finance and Deregulation (Senator Wong) tabled ministerial statements about–
- effectiveness of Australia’s aid program [related documents also tabled]
- global economy
- live animal exports [a motion to take note of the statement was debated and agreed to – first speaker]
Other business
Questions without notice and issues arising during question time–first question
Adjournment debate–first speaker
Motions agreed to
Motion negatived
First speeches
The Senate agreed to a motion establishing dates for new senators to make their first speeches.
Temporary chairs of committees
Warrants were tabled nominating Senators Adams, Back, Cameron, Furner and Stephens as temporary chairs of committees.
Parliamentary Retiring Allowances Trust
Senator Marshall was appointed as a trustee to serve on the Parliamentary Retiring Allowances Trust.
Notices of motion
Notices of motion given today are available in the Senate Journals [see Journals entries nos 4 and 20].
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