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No. 57/2011
Thursday, 13 October 2011
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The Senate met from 9.30 am until 8.36 pm
The Senate will meet again on 31 October 2011. Senate committees will meet from 17 to 20 October 2011 to consider supplementary budget estimates.
Legislation
Bills and related documents
Bills considered
The following bills were introduced
- Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Emergency Listings) Bill 2011 [private senator’s bill]
- Maritime Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 [passed by the House of Representatives on 12 October 2011]
- Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Participants in British Nuclear Tests) Bill 2011 [passed by the House of Representatives on 12 October 2011]
The following bill was exempted from the cut-off order [to enable consideration in this period of sittings – 16 August to 30 November 2011]
- Banking Amendment (Covered Bonds) Bill 2011
The following bills were debated
- Auditor-General Amendment Bill 2011–second reading agreed to [first speaker ] and committee of the whole commenced–10 Opposition amendments to be determined
- Indigenous Affairs Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2011–second reading debate commenced [first speaker ]
The following bill was introduced, debated and passed
- Banking Amendment (Covered Bonds) Bill 2011 [first speaker ] [The bill will now be assented to]
The following bills were passed
- Business Names Registration Bill 2011 and 2 related bills [first speaker ] [The bills will now be assented to]
- Customs Amendment (Anti-dumping Measures) Bill 2011 and a related bill [first speaker ] [The bills will now be assented to]
- National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Amendment Bill 2011 [first speaker ] [The House of Representatives will now consider this bill]
- Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 6) Bill 2011 [first speaker ] [The bill will now be assented to]
Committees
Scheduled public committee hearings
Committee reports
Estimates
Additional information arising from estimates hearings was tabled.
Reports tabled
- Environment and Communications References Committee–Recent ABC programming decisions [report] [a motion was moved to take note of the report]
- Privileges Committee–148th report: Person referred to in the Senate–Mr Ian Lazar [a motion to adopt the report was agreed to]
- Scrutiny of Bills Committee–Alert Digest No. 12 of 2011 and 12th report of 2011 [contain assessments of bills on civil liberties and related grounds]
- Public Accounts and Audit Joint Committee–425th report: Annual report 2010‑11 [report] [a motion to take note of the report was agreed to]
- Publications Committee–10th report [report] [a motion to adopt the report was agreed to]
- Treaties Joint Committee–120th report: Treaties tabled on 5 July and 16 August 2011 [report] [a motion was moved to take note of the report]
Government responses tabled
- Christmas Island tragedy of 15 December 2010 Joint Select Committee–Report
- Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee–Administration and reporting of NAPLAN testing
- Finance and Public Administration References Committee–Superannuation claims of former and current Commonwealth public service employees
New inquiries
Selection of Bills Committee report
The Senate adopted report no. 14 of the Selection of Bills Committee, and made the following references:
- Australian Renewable Energy Agency Bill 2011 and a related bill–Environment and Communications Legislation Committee–to report by 7 November 2011
- Education Services for Overseas Students Legislation Amendment (Tuition Protection Service and Other Measures) Bill 2011 and 2 related bills–Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee–to report by 1 December 2011
Other reference
- Supply and distribution of health services and medical professionals in rural areas–Community Affairs References Committee–to report by 30 April 2012
Proposed reference
The Senate did not agree to refer the following matter to a committee:
Meetings during the sitting of the Senate
The Senate authorised the following meetings to be held while the Senate is sitting:
- Community Affairs References Committee–13 October 2011 from 4.00 pm–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
- Treaties Joint Committee–31 October 2011 from 10.00 am to 1.30 pm–public meeting
Notices of motion
To hold meetings when the Senate is sitting
- Migration Joint Committee–2 November 2011 from 10.30 am to noon–public meeting
- Public Accounts and Audit Joint Committee:
- 2 November 2011 from 11.00 am to noon–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1), followed by a private briefing, and from noon to 1.00 pm–public meeting
- 23 November 2011 from 11 am to 1.00 pm–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
Membership
The Senate agreed to various changes to committee membership.
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 and vacancies
Letters of advice 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
Letters of advice 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
- Auditor-General–Audit report no. 8 of 2011-12
- Department of Parliamentary Services–Report for 2010-11
- Department of the Senate–Report for 2010-11
- Response to a Senate resolution about access to funds for Libyan students–from the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr Rudd) [resolution agreed to on 18 August 2011]
- 1 petition
Documents discussed
Government documents and committee reports were discussed [see Journal entries 52 and 53].
Ministerial statements tabled
The Minister for Finance and Deregulation (Senator Wong) tabled ministerial statements about–
- the appointment of members to the Anzac Centenary Advisory Board [a motion to take note of the statement was agreed to]
- the global financial crisis three years on
Other business
Questions without notice and issues arising during question time–first question
Adjournment debate–first speaker
Motions agreed to
Motion negatived
Motion debated
The Senate debated but did not agree to a motion moved by Senator Fifield relating to border security [first speaker].
Ruling by the President
During consideration of committee reports, the President ruled that a question before the chair needed to be disposed of before another motion could be entertained. Senator Macdonald objected to the ruling. The Senate did not agree that the question of dissent required immediate determination. Senator Macdonald subsequently withdrew the motion of dissent [see Journals entry 53].
Proposed suspension of standing orders
The Senate did not agree to a motion moved by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Senator Abetz) to suspend standing orders to enable debate on a motion allowing Senator Hanson-Young to explain her contact with the Commonwealth Ombudsman and questions at estimates hearings arising therefrom [first speaker].
Questions on notice–Failure to provide answers
Senators asked the following ministers why answers had not been provided to questions on notice:
- Senator Boyce–Minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing (Senator Ludwig)–Questions on notice from the 2011-12 Budget estimates hearings of the Community Affairs Legislation Committee–Super clinics [An explanation was provided. A motion to take note of the explanation was debated and agreed to – first speaker]
- Senator Cormann–Minister representing the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (Senator Carr)–Question on notice no. 1104, asked on 9 September 2011–Riots on Christmas Island in March 2011 [An explanation was provided. A motion to take note of the explanation was agreed to]
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