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No. 40/2011
Senate Daily Summary
Monday, 22 August 2011
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The Senate met from 10.00 am until 10.11 pm
Senators
Senator Fawcett gave his first speech.
Statements were made relating to the imminent retirement of Senator Coonan [first speaker ].
Legislation
Bills and related documents
Bills considered
The following bills were introduced
- Customs Amendment (Anti-dumping Improvements) Bill 2011 [passed by the House of Representatives on 18 August 2011]
- Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Amendment (Inventory) Bill 2011 [passed by the House of Representatives on 18 August 2011]
- National Health Reform Amendment (National Health Performance Authority) Bill 2011 [passed by the House of Representatives on 17 August 2011]
The following bills were passed [see Journals of the Senate for details]
- Australian National Registry of Emissions Units Bill 2011–2 Government amendments agreed to [The House of Representatives will now consider the amendments made by the Senate]
- Carbon Credits (Carbon Farming Initiative) Bill 2011–1 Senator Xenophon amendment agreed to [see Journals of the Senate for 6 July , 16 August , 17 August and 18 August for previous consideration in committee of the whole] [The House of Representatives will now consider the amendments made by the Senate]
- Carbon Credits (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
The following bills were debated
- Tax Laws Amendment (Research and Development) Bill 2010 and a related bill–second reading agreed to [first speaker ] and committee of the whole commenced–
- Tax Laws Amendment (Research and Development) Bill 2010–39 Government amendments agreed to, 2 Government amendments to be determined
- Income Tax Rates Amendment (Research and Development) Bill 2010–amendments remain to be considered
See Committees for details of reports relating to legislation
Committees
Scheduled public committee hearings
Committee reports
Report tabled
- Family Law Legislation Amendment (Family Violence and Other Measures) Bill 2011–Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee [report]
Documents tabled
- Economics Legislation Committee–Drafts settled with state/territory officials of the Business Names Registration Bill 2011 and related bills–Additional comments by Opposition senators
New inquiry
The Senate referred matters relating to the administration and purchasing of Disability Employment Services in Australia to the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee for report by 22 November 2011 [terms of reference].
Meeting during the sitting of the Senate
The Senate authorised the Scrutiny of New Taxes Select Committee to hold a private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1) during the sitting of the Senate on 23 August 2011 from 1.45 pm.
Notices of motion
To hold meetings when the Senate is sitting
- Community Affairs References Committee–25 August 2011 from 1.00 pm–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
- Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee–23 August 2011 from 7.00 pm–Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Amendment (Fair Protection for Firefighters) Bill 2011–public hearing
- Migration Joint Committee–14 September 2011 from 10.30 am to noon–public meeting
- National Broadband Network Joint Committee–23 August 2011 from 6.00 pm–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
- Treaties Joint Committee–12 September 2011 from 10.30 am to noon–public meeting
To extend reporting deadlines
- Community Affairs References Committee–Professional Services Review Scheme–to report by 12 October 2011
- Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee–Patent Amendment (Human Genes and Biological Materials) Bill 2010–to report by 21 September 2011
- Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee–Agreement between Australia and Malaysia in relation to asylum seekers–to report by 11 October 2011
To modify an existing order
The Chair of the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee (Senator Marshall) gave a notice of motion to modify the order of the Senate of 28 October 2009 relating to the appearance of the President of Fair Work Australia at estimates hearings of the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee.
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
Motion agreed to
The Senate ordered that documents relating to act of grace payments be tabled by no later than 12.00 pm on 23 August 2011.
Orders with continuing effect
Departmental and agency grants
Letter of advice and revised information for documents previously tabled for the Infrastructure and Transport portfolio 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
- Government document–Live-stock mortalities during exports by sea–Report for the period 1 January to 30 June 2011–Replacement
- A petition
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 did not agree to a motion moved by the Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Bob Brown) to suspend standing orders to enable debate on a motion about the intergovernmental agreement on Tasmanian forests [first speaker].
Matter of public importance discussed
Question on notice–Failure to provide answer
Senator Humphries asked the Minister representing the Minister for Trade (Senator Conroy) why answers had not been provided to questions on notice nos 246 and 288 asked on 29 November 2010. The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Senator Ludwig) responded. A motion moved by Senator Humphries to take note of the response was agreed to.
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