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No. 68/2011
Thursday, 10 November 2011
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The Senate met from 9.30 am until 8.14 pm
Legislation
Bills and related documents
Bills considered
The following bills were introduced
- Australian Broadcasting Corporation Amendment (International Broadcasting Services) Bill 2011 [private senator’s bill]
- Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Fair Protection for Firefighters) Bill 2011 [private members’ bill–passed by the House of Representatives on 3 November 2011]
The following bills were debated
- Maritime Legislation Amendment Bill 2011–second reading agreed to [first speaker]
- Quarantine Amendment (Disallowing Permits) Bill 2011–second reading debate commenced [first speaker]
The following bills were passed
- Excise Tariff Amendment (Condensate) Bill 2011
Excise Legislation Amendment (Condensate) Bill 2011
[These bills will now be assented to]
- Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill 2011–3 Government amendments agreed to [The House of Representatives will now consider the amendments made by the Senate]
- Trade Marks Amendment (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Bill 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
Notices of motion
To exempt bills from the cut-off order [to enable consideration this period of sittings – 16 August to 30 November 2011]
- Business Names Registration (Application of Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011
- Corporations (Fees) Amendment Bill 2011
- Deterring People Smuggling Bill 2011
- Extradition and Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation Amendment Bill 2011
- Higher Education Support Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2011
- National Health Reform Amendment (Independent Hospital Pricing Authority) Bill 2011
- Parliamentary Service Amendment (Parliamentary Budget Officer) Bill 2011
- Personal Property Securities Amendment (Registration Commencement) Bill 2011
- Social Security Amendment (Student Income Support Reforms) Bill 2011
- Social Security Legislation Amendment (Family Participation Measures) Bill 2011
- Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 8) Bill 2011 and a related bill
To vary the hours of meeting and routine of business
A notice of motion was given by the Minister for Sport (Senator Arbib) to vary the hours of meeting for various days in the week beginning 21 November 2011 to enable the Government’s legislative program to be considered.
See Committees for details of reports relating to legislation
Committees
Scheduled public committee hearings
Committee reports
Estimates
Additional information arising from estimates hearings was tabled.
Document tabled
- Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Fibre Deployment) Bill 2010–Correspondence from the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Senator Conroy) relating to the report of the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee
New inquiries
Selection of Bills Committee report
The Senate adopted report no. 16 of the Selection of Bills Committee, and made the following references:
- Building and Construction Industry Improvement Amendment (Transition to Fair Work) Bill 2011–Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee–to report by 29 February 2012
- Defence Trade Controls Bill 2011–Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee–to report by 12 April 2012
- Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Emergency Listings) Bill 2011–Environment and Communications Legislation Committee–to report by 7 February 2012
- Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Protecting Australia’s Water Resources) Bill 2011–Rural Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee–to report by 27 February 2012
- Minerals Resource Rent Tax Bill 2011 and 10 related bills–Economics Legislation Committee–to report by 14 March 2012
Meetings during the sitting of the Senate
The Senate authorised the following meetings to be held while the Senate is sitting:
- Economics Legislation Committee–10 November 2011 from 1.50 pm–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
- Gambling Reform Joint Select Committee–22 November 2011 from 4.00 pm–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
Reporting dates extended
The Senate extended reporting dates for the following inquiries:
- Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee–Disability employment services–to report by 25 November 2011
- Senators’ Interests Committee–Draft code of conduct for senators–to report by 10 May 2012
Notice of motion to hold a meeting when the Senate is sitting
- National Broadband Network Joint Committee–22 November 2011 from 6.00 pm–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
Membership
The Senate agreed that Senator Colbeck replace Senator Heffernan on the Rural Affairs and Transport References Committee for the committee’s inquiry into biosecurity and quarantine arrangements on 29 November 2011.
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
Statement by Minister
The Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Senator Conroy) made a statement relating to the order of the Senate [agreed to on 9 November 2011] requiring the tabling of documents relating to the Australia Network tender process. [Senators Birmingham and Ludlam made statements in response]
Documents tabled
The Minister for Small Business (Senator Sherry) tabled the following documents in response to orders of the Senate:
- Statement–Tasmanian Forests Intergovernmental Agreement [tabled in response to the order of the Senate agreed to on 3 November 2011] [a motion was moved to take note of the statement]
- Statement and attachments–Documents held by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Foreign Affairs and Trade departments, as well as the Australian Government Solicitor, relating to the live cattle export ban [tabled in response to orders of the Senate agreed to on 3 November 2011 – see Journals entries 17, 18 and 20]
[a motion was moved to take note of the documents]
Documents tabled
- Auditor-General–Audit report no. 12 of 2011-12 [a motion was moved to take note of the report]
- Reports by the President of the Senate on various official visits [see Journals entries 26, 27, 28 and 29]
- Responses to Senate resolutions about–
- Sri Lanka–from the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr Rudd) [resolution agreed to on 7 July 2011]
- Libya–from the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr Rudd) [resolution agreed to on 22 September 2011]
Other business
Questions without notice and issues arising during question time–first question
Adjournment debate–first speaker
Motions agreed to
Motions negatived
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