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Senate Daily Summary
No. 29/2011
Thursday, 23 June 2011
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The Senate met from 9.30 am until 8.18 pm
Legislation
For bills and related documents
Bills considered
The following bills were introduced
- Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Amendment Bill 2011 [passed by the House of Representatives on 22 June 2011]
- Military Justice (Interim Measures) Amendment Bill 2011 [passed by the House of Representatives on 22 June 2011]
- Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Amendment (Registration of Foreign Proceeds of Crime Orders) Bill 2011 [passed by the House of Representatives on 23 June 2011]
- National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Home Loans and Credit Cards) Bill 2011 [passed by the House of Representatives on 22 June 2011]
- Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2011 [Senate bill]
The following bill was debated
- Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Bioregional Plans) Bill 2011–second reading debate commenced [private senator’s bill] [first speaker ]
The following bills were passed
- Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2011-2012
Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2011-2012
Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2011-2012
[The bills will now be assented to]
- Family Assistance and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
- Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labelling—Palm Oil) Bill 2010 [private senator’s bill]–4 Senator Xenophon/Australian Greens amendments agreed to [The House of Representatives will now consider this bill]
- Remuneration and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2011–7 Government amendments agreed to [The House of Representatives will now consider the amendments made by the Senate]
- Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 5) Bill 2011–1 Opposition second reading amendment agreed to [referring matters to the Economics References Committee] [The bill will now be assented to]
Messages from the House of Representatives
Agreeing to amendments made by the Senate to the following bills
- Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy (Collection) Bill 2011
- Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre Supervisory Cost Recovery Levy (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2011
- Combating the Financing of People Smuggling and Other Measures Bill 2011
- Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Further Election Commitments and Other Measures) Bill 2011
[The bills will now be assented to]
Agreeing to the following bills without amendment
- Higher Education Support Amendment (No. 1) Bill 2011
- Product Stewardship Bill 2011
[The bills will now be assented to]
Motion negatived
A motion moved by Senator Parry to suspend standing orders to enable a private senator’s bill to be considered under a limitation of time was debated and negatived [first speaker ].
Bill assented to
Assent to a law was reported in the Senate
See Committees for details of reports relating to legislation
Committees
For scheduled public committee hearings
For committee reports
Estimates
Seven legislation committees tabled reports into the 2011-12 Budget estimates.
Additional information arising from estimates hearings was tabled.
The Chair of the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee (Senator Marshall) gave a notice of motion relating to the order of the Senate agreed to on 28 October 2009 concerning estimates hearings and Fair Work Australia.
Reports tabled
- Community Affairs References Committee–The social and economic impact of rural wind farms [report] [a motion to take note of the report was debated – first speaker]
- Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Joint Committee–Inquiry into Australia’s relationship with the countries of Africa [report] [a motion to take note of the report was debated and agreed to – first speaker]
- Intelligence and Security Joint Statutory Committee–Annual report of committee activities 2009-10 [report] [a motion to take note of the report was debated – first speaker]
- Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee–Review of the National Classification Scheme: achieving the right balance [report] [a motion was moved to take note of the report]
- Rural Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee–Exposure draft and explanatory memorandum of the Illegal Logging Prohibition Bill 2011 [report] [a motion was moved to take note of the report]
- Rural Affairs and Transport References Committee–
- Science underpinning the inability to eradicate the Asian honey bee [report] [a motion to take note of the report was debated – first speaker]
- Pilot training and airline safety; and consideration of the Transport Safety Investigation Amendment (Incident Reports) Bill 2010 [report] [a motion was moved to take note of the report]
Government responses tabled
- Economics References Committee–Foreign investment by state-owned entities
- Migration Joint Committee–Negotiating the maze: Review of arrangements for overseas skills recognition, upgrading and licensing
New inquiries
Selection of Bills Committee report
The Senate adopted report no. 8 of 2011 of the Selection of Bills Committee, and made the following references:
- Crimes Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2011–Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee–to report by 23 August 2011
- Live Animal Export (Slaughter) Prohibition Bill 2011 [No. 2] and the Live Animal Export Restriction and Prohibition Bill 2011 [No. 2]–Rural Affairs and Transport References Committee–to report by 16 August 2011
Other references
- Administration of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme–Finance and Public Administration References Committee–to report by 18 August 2011 [terms of reference]
- Government’s response to Australian citizens who are kidnapped and held for ransom overseas–Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee–to report by 19 September 2011 [terms of reference]
- Funding and administration of mental health services–Community Affairs References Committee–to report by 16 August 2011 [terms of reference]
- Performance of the Department of Parliamentary Services–Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee–to report by 29 November 2011 [terms of reference]
- Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 5) Bill 2011–Review of the operation of the amendments made by Part 1 of Schedule 5 of the bill–Economics References Committee [moved as a second reading amendment to the bill]
Proposed reference
The Senate did not agree to refer matters relating to the preservation of documents concerning child abuse to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee.
Meeting during the sitting of the Senate
The Senate authorised the Gambling Reform Joint Select Committee to hold a private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1) on 5 July 2011 from 4.00 pm.
Reporting dates extended
The Senate extended reporting dates for the following inquiries:
- Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee–Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test and Other Provisions) Bill 2011–to report by 29 June 2011
- Rural Affairs and Transport References Committee–Biosecurity and quarantine arrangements–to report by 29 November 2011
Membership
The Senate agreed to various changes to committee membership.
A message from the House of Representatives was reported advising of the appointment of Mr Bandt to the Australia’s Immigration Detention Network Joint Select 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]
Approval of determinations
The Senate approved 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
Orders for the production of documents
Motion agreed to
The Senate ordered the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (Senator Ludwig) to table documents relating to the development of the import protocol for apples from New Zealand, no later than 5.00 pm on 30 June 2011.
Documents tabled
Correspondence from the Minister for Small Business (Senator Sherry) was tabled in response to the order of the Senate agreed to on 21 June 2011 relating to a proposed mining tax.
Ministerial statement tabled
The Minister for Finance and Deregulation (Senator Wong) tabled a ministerial statement about superannuation and the goal of lifetime income security.
Documents tabled
Other business
Questions without notice and issues arising during question time–first question
Adjournment debate–first speaker
Motion negatived
Council of the National Library of Australia
Senator Humphries was elected as a member of the Council of the National Library of Australia from 1 July 2011 for a period of 3 years.
Parliamentary Retiring Allowances Trust
Senator Macdonald was appointed as a trustee to serve on the Parliamentary Retiring Allowances Trust from 1 July 2011.
Personal explanation
Senator Forshaw made a personal explanation about an article in the Australian of 23 June 2011 concerning the retirement of senators.
Notices of motion
Notices of motion given today are available in the Senate Journals [see Journals entries nos 6 and 52].
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