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No. 52/2011
Senate Daily Summary
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
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The Senate met from 9.30 am until 7.29 pm
Legislation
Bills and related documents
Bills considered
The following bills were introduced
- Coal Mining Industry (Long Service Leave) Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 [Senate bill]
- Extradition and Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 [passed by the House of Representatives on 21 September 2011]
- Parliamentary Service Amendment (Parliamentary Budget Officer) Bill 2011 [passed by the House of Representatives on 21 September 2011]
- Social Security Legislation Amendment (Family Participation Measures) Bill 2011 [Senate bill]
The following bills were exempted from the cut-off order [to enable consideration in this period of sittings – 16 August to 30 November 2011]
- Defence Legislation Amendment Bill 2011
- Indigenous Affairs Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2011
- National Residue Survey (Excise) Levy Amendment (Deer) Bill 2011
- Protection of the Sea (Prevention of Pollution from Ships) Amendment (Oils in the Antarctic Area) Bill 2011
The following bill was debated
- Higher Education Legislation Amendment (Student Services and Amenities) Bill 2010–committee of the whole continued–1 Australian Greens amendment to be determined [further amendments remain to be considered]
Motion agreed to
The Senate debated and agreed to a motion to vary the days of meeting for 2011, and the hours of meeting for 1, 3, 8 and 10 November 2011, to enable the Clean Energy Bill 2011 and 17 related bills to be considered, and for the consideration of these bills under a limitation of time [first speaker ].
See Committees for details of reports relating to legislation
Committees
Scheduled public committee hearings
Committee reports
Reports tabled
Reports on legislation
- Bankruptcy Amendment (Exceptional Circumstances Exit Package) Bill 2011–Economics Legislation Committee [report]
- Government Advertising (Accountability) Bill 2011–Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee [report]
- Patent Amendment (Human Genes and Biological Materials) Bill 2010–Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee [report] [a motion was moved to take note of the report]
Other report
- Scrutiny of Bills Committee–Alert Digest No. 11 of 2011 and 11th report of 2011 [contain assessments of bills on civil liberties and related grounds] [a motion to take note of the report was debated and agreed to – first speaker]
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–21 September 2011 from 4.30 pm–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
- Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee–22 September 2011 from 11.30 am–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
- Rural Affairs and Transport References Committee–21 September 2011 from 5.00 pm–private briefing
Reporting dates extended
The Senate extended reporting dates for the following inquiries:
- Electoral Matters Joint Committee–Funding of political parties and election campaigns–to report by 1 December 2011
- Environment and Communications References Committee–Status, health and sustainability of the koala population–to report by 22 September 2011
- Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee–Exposure drafts of Australian privacy amendment legislation–to report by 6 October 2011
Notices of motion
To hold meetings when the Senate is sitting
- Migration Joint Committee–12 October 2011 from 10.30 am–public meeting
- Rural Affairs and Transport References Committee–22 September 2011 from 4.30 pm–Management of the Murray-Darling Basin–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
Membership
The Senate discharged Senator Urquhart from and appointed Senator Marshall to the Regulations and Ordinances 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]
Motion to disallow defeated
The Senate did not agree to a motion which would have disallowed the Migration Amendment Regulations 2011 (No. 4), made under the Migration Act 1958 and contained in Select Legislative Instrument 2011 No. 122 [homepage] [first speaker].
Notice of motion to disallow given
The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Senator Abetz) gave a notice of motion to disallow the Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Amendment Regulations 2011 (No. 1), as contained in Select Legislative Instrument 2011 No. 144 and made under the Fair Work (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Act 2009 [homepage].
Orders for the production of documents
Orders with continuing effect
Indexed lists of departmental and agency files published on the Internet
Statements of compliance for various agencies were tabled [Statements of compliance about certain files created by departments and agencies are required to be tabled twice a year].
Documents tabled
Ministerial statement tabled
The Minister for Tertiary Education, Skills, Jobs and Workplace Relations (Senator Evans) tabled a ministerial statement about the second anniversary of pension reforms [a motion to take note of the statement was agreed to].
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
Motions negatived
Matter of public importance discussed
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