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Senate Daily Summary
No. 23/2011
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
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The Senate met from 9.30 am until 7.56 pm
Legislation
For bills and related documents
Bills considered
The following private senators’ bills were introduced
- Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Tobacco Industry Donations) Bill 2011
- Live Animal Export (Slaughter) Prohibition Bill 2011
The following bill was debated
- National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010–second reading debate continued [first speaker ]
The following bills were passed
- Acts Interpretation Amendment Bill 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
- Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Election Commitments and Other Measures) Bill 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
- Higher Education Support Amendment (No. 1) Bill 2011 [The House of Representatives will now consider this bill]
- International Tax Agreements Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
- Product Stewardship Bill 2011–15 Government, 1 Opposition and 3 Australian Greens amendments were agreed to [The House of Representatives will now consider this bill]
- Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 2) Bill 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
- Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 3) Bill 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
- Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 4) Bill 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
- Tax Laws Amendment (Medicare Levy and Medicare Levy Surcharge) Bill 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
Notices of motion
To introduce bills
- Migration Amendment (Declared Countries) Bill 2011–notice given by Senator Hanson-Young
See Committees for details of reports relating to legislation
Committees
For scheduled public committee hearings
For committee reports
Reports tabled
Reports on legislation
- Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Bioregional Plans) Bill 2011–Environment and Communications Legislation Committee–Final report [report]
Other reports
- Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee–Exposure drafts of Australian privacy amendment legislation; Part 1 [report] [a motion to take note of the report was agreed to] [a notice of motion was given to establish 30 September 2011 as the reporting date for the final report]
- Scrutiny of Bills Committee–Alert Digest No. 5 of 2011 and 5th report of 2011 [contain assessments of bills on civil liberties and related grounds] [a motion to take note of the report was agreed to]
- Treaties Joint Committee–117th report–Treaties tabled on 9 and 10 February and 1 March 2011 [report] [a motion to take note of the report was agreed to]
New inquiries
Selection of Bills Committee report
The Senate adopted report no. 7 of 2011 of the Selection of Bills Committee, and made the following references:
- Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Further Election Commitments and Other Measures) Bill 2011–Schedule 4–Economics Legislation Committee–to report by 22 June 2011
- Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 5) Bill 2011–Schedule 5–Economics Legislation Committee–to report by 21 June 2011
- Veterans’ Entitlements Amendment Bill 2011–Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee–to report by 16 August 2011
Meetings during the sitting of the Senate
The Senate authorised the following meetings to be held while the Senate is sitting:
- Christmas Island tragedy of 15 December 2010 Joint Select Committee–16 June 2011 from 4.00 pm to 5.00 pm–public hearing
- Corporations and Financial Services Joint Committee–
- 15 June 2011 from 5.00 pm to 6.30 pm–Statutory oversight of the operations of ASIC–public hearing
- 16 June 2011 from 11.30 am–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
- Gambling Reform Joint Select Committee–21 June 2011 from 4.00 pm–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
- Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee–16 June 2011–
- from 4.00 pm–Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Bill 2011–public hearing
- from 5.30 pm–Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test and Other Provisions) Bill 2011–public hearing
- Migration Joint Committee–22 June 2011 from 10.30 am to noon–public hearing
- Reform of the Australian Federation Select Committee–16 June 2011–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
- Treaties Joint Committee–20 June 2011 from 10.00 am to noon–public hearing
Reporting dates extended
The Senate extended reporting dates for the following inquiries:
- Community Affairs Legislation Committee–
- 2011-12 Budget estimates–to report by 5 July 2011
- Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labelling—Genetically Modified Material) Bill 2010–to report by 13 October 2011
- Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee–
- Family Law Legislation Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2011–to report by 16 August 2011
- Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test and Other Provisions) Bill 2011–to report by 23 June 2011
- Patent Amendment (Human Genes and Biological Materials) Bill 2010–to report by 25 August 2011
- Rural Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee–Exposure draft and explanatory memorandum of the Illegal Logging Prohibition Bill 2011–to report by 21 June 2011
- Rural Affairs and Transport References Committee–Pilot safety, including consideration of the Transport Safety Investigation Amendment (Incident Reports) Bill 2010–to report by 22 June 2011
- Scrutiny of Bills Committee–Future direction and role of the committee–to report by 22 September 2011
Notices of motion
To hold meetings when the Senate is sitting
- National Capital and External Territories Joint Committee–22 June 2011 from 12.30 pm to 2.00 pm–committee’s biannual review of the National Capital Authority–public hearing
- Scrutiny of New Taxes Select Committee–16 June 2011 from 1.50 pm–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
To refer matters to committees
- Regulatory standards for the approval of medical devices in Australia–Community Affairs References Committee–to report by 22 August 2011–notice given by Senator Xenophon
Membership
The Senate agreed to appoint Senator Hanson-Young to replace Senator Ludlam on the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee for the committee’s inquiry into the Migration Amendment (Detention Reform and Procedural Fairness) Bill 2010, and to appoint Senator Ludlam as a participating member of the committee.
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, including Governor-General’s Proclamations]
Notices of motion to approve determinations
- The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Senator Ludwig) gave notices of motion to approve the following determinations made under section 10B(1) of the Health Insurance Act 1973:
- Health Insurance (Extended Medicare Safety Net) Amendment Determination 2011
- Health Insurance (Extended Medicare Safety Net) Amendment Determination 2011 (No. 2)
- Health Insurance (Extended Medicare Safety Net – Telehealth) Amendment Determination 2011
Ministerial statement tabled
The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Senator Ludwig) tabled a ministerial statement about rural research and development, together with Report No. 52 of the Productivity Commission and the government’s preliminary response to the report.
Documents tabled
- Auditor-General–
- Audit reports nos 43 to 46 of 2010-11
- Independent Auditor–Planning and scoping of performance audits by the Australian National Audit Office
- Correspondence from the Minister for Finance and Deregulation (Senator Wong)–Ordinary annual services of government
- Department of the Senate–Senators’ satisfaction with departmental services–Report prepared by Ipsos-Eureka Social Research Institute–May 2011
- Government documents
- Responses to Senate resolutions–
- From the Ambassador of Israel to Australia (Mr Rotem)–Palestine and Israel [resolution agreed to on 11 May 2011]
- From the House of Councillors, Japan–Natural disasters [resolution agreed to on 21 March 2011]
- From the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr Rudd)–
- 25th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear reactor accident [resolution agreed to on 11 May 2011]
- International Women’s Day [resolution agreed to on 3 March 2011]
- World Tuberculosis Day [resolution agreed to on 24 March 2011]
Other business
Questions without notice and issues arising during question time–first question
Matters of public interest debate–first speaker
Adjournment debate–first speaker
Motion agreed to
- Dalai Lama–moved by the Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Bob Brown) and Senator Xenophon
Motion negatived
New Zealand Prime Minister
A message from the House of Representatives was reported, inviting senators to attend the House as guests on 20 June 2011 at 2.30 pm for the welcoming remarks by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, and the address by the Right Honourable John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Valedictory speeches
Senators Troeth, Barnett and Trood gave their valedictory speeches, and a series of speeches were given recognising the contribution of those senators whose terms expire on 30 June [first speaker]. Valedictory speeches will continue from 4.00 pm on 21 June 2011.
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