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No. 74/2011
Friday, 25 November 2011
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The Senate met from 9.30 am until 5.33 pm
The Senate has now completed its sittings for 2011 and will commence the 2012 Autumn sittings on 7 February 2012
Sittings of the Senate
The Senate debated and agreed to a motion to vary the days of meeting for 2011, to provide that the Senate not meet from 28 to 30 November 2011 [first speaker].
Legislation
Bills and related documents
Bills considered
The following bills were passed
- Competition and Consumer Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
- Deterring People Smuggling Bill 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
- Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Bill 2010 [The bill will now be assented to]
Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2010 [The bill will now be assented to]
- Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
- Social Security Amendment (Student Income Support Reforms) Bill 2011 [The bill will now be assented to]
Committees
Scheduled public committee hearings
Committee reports
Estimates
Additional information received by the Economics Legislation Committee relating to the 2011-12 supplementary budget estimates was tabled.
Reports tabled
Reports on legislation
- Constitutional Corporations (Farm Gate to Plate) Bill 2011 [No. 2]–Economics Legislation Committee [report]
- National Radioactive Waste Management Bill 2010–Report on the Northern Land Council’s evidence–Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee [report]
Other reports
- Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity Joint Committee–Inquiry into integrity testing [report]
- Economics References Committee–Investing for good: The development of a capital market for the not-for-profit sector in Australia [report]
- Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee–The administration and purchasing of disability employment services in Australia [report]
- Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee–Held Hostage: Government’s response to kidnappings of Australian citizens overseas [report]
- Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee–Unauthorised disclosure of proceedings relating to the committee’s inquiry into Australia’s arrangement with Malaysia on asylum seekers [report]
- National Broadband Network Joint Committee–Review of the rollout of the National Broadband Network [report]
- National Capital and External Territories Joint Committee–Etched in Stone? Inquiry into the administration of the National Memorials Ordinance 1928 [report]
- Public Accounts and Audit Joint Committee–426th report–Ninth biannual hearing with the Commissioner of Taxation [report]
- Publications Committee–12th report [report] [a motion to adopt the report was agreed to]
Documents tabled
- Community Affairs References Committee–Inquiry into Commonwealth funding and administration of mental health services–Additional information
New inquiries
Selection of Bills Committee report
The Senate adopted report no. 17 of the Selection of Bills Committee, and made the following references:
- Access to Justice (Federal Jurisdiction) Amendment Bill 2011–Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee–to report by 22 March 2012
- Corporations Amendment (Further Future of Financial Advice Measures) Bill 2011–Economics Legislation Committee–to report by 14 March 2012
- Crimes Amendment (Fairness for Minors) Bill 2011–Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee–to report by 22 March 2011
- Fair Work Amendment (Textile, Clothing and Footwear Industry) Bill 2011–Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee–to report by 27 February 2012
- Illegal Logging Prohibition Bill 2011–Rural Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee–to report by 8 February 2012
- Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records Bill 2011 and a related bill–Community Affairs Legislation Committee–to report by 29 February 2012
- Social Security Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 and the Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Bill 2011 and a related bill–Community Affairs Legislation Committee–to report by 29 February 2012
Meeting during the sitting of the Senate
The Senate authorised the Economics Legislation Committee to hold a private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1) during the sitting of the Senate on 25 November 2011 from 10.30 am.
Reporting date extended
The Senate extended the reporting date for the inquiry of the Economics Legislation Committee into the Consumer Credit and Corporations Legislation Amendment (Enhancements) Bill 2011 to 7 December 2011.
Membership
The Senate agreed to various changes to committee membership.
See Other business for details of a notice of motion to refer a matter to the Privileges 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]
Documents tabled
- Australian parliamentary delegation–124th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly, Panama, and a bilateral visit to Brazil, 4 to 23 April 2011
Other business
Adjournment debate–first speaker
Proposed matter of privilege
The President made a statement relating to a proposed matter of privilege raised by the Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Bob Brown) about a possible improper relation between Senator Boswell and Metcash.
Senator Bob Brown objected to the ruling by the President that the motion to refer a matter to the Privileges Committee not be given precedence [The motion to dissent from the President’s ruling will be debated on 7 February 2012].
Senator Bob Brown gave notice of a motion to refer a matter to the Privileges Committee.
The Senate debated but did not agree to a motion to suspend standing orders to enable Senator Bob Brown to make a statement in relation to the matter [first speaker]
End of 2011 sittings
Valedictory speeches were made relating to the end of the 2011 sittings [first speaker].
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