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No. 10/2012
Thursday, 1 March 2012
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The Senate met from 9.30 am until 7.29 pm
Senators
Senator Arbib made a statement relating to his imminent resignation. Other senators made statements relating to the matter [first speaker].
Legislation
Bills and related documents
Bills considered
The following bills were introduced
- Assisting Victims of Overseas Terrorism Bill 2012 [private senator’s bill]
- Family Assistance and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2012 [passed by the House of Representatives on 29 February 2012]
- Low Aromatic Fuel Bill 2012 [private senator’s bill]
The following bills were debated
- Australian Research Council Amendment Bill 2011–second reading debate commenced [first speaker]
- Environment Protection (Beverage Container Deposit and Recovery Scheme) Bill 2010–second reading debate commenced [first speaker]
The following bill was defeated by a majority vote
- Commonwealth Commissioner for Children and Young People Bill 2010–defeated at second reading [first speaker]
The following bills were passed
- National Health Amendment (Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement Initiatives) Bill 2012 [first speaker] [The bill will now be assented to]
- Tax Laws Amendment (2011 Measures No. 9) Bill 2011 [first speaker] [The bill will now be assented to]
See Committees for details of reports relating to legislation
Committees
Scheduled public committee hearings
Committee reports
Estimates
Reports tabled
Reports on legislation
- Corporations Amendment (Future of Financial Advice) Bill 2011 and the Corporations Amendment (Further Future of Financial Advice Measures) Bill 2011–Corporations and Financial Services Joint Committee [report] [a motion to take note of the report was debated – first speaker]
- Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Emergency Listings) Bill 2011–Environment and Communications Legislation Committee [report]
Other reports
- Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity Joint Committee–Examination of the annual report of the Integrity Commissioner 2010-2011 [report] [a motion to take note of the report was debated – first speaker]
- Finance and Public Administration References Committee–Operation of the Lobbying Code of Conduct and the lobbyist register [report] [a motion to take note of the report was debated – first speaker]
- Publications Committee–14th report [report] [a motion to adopt the report was agreed to]
New inquiries
Selection of Bills Committee report
The Senate adopted report no. 2 of 2012 of the Selection of Bills Committee, and made the following references:
- Aviation Transport Security Amendment (Screening) Bill 2012–Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee–to report by 9 May 2012
- Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment (R 18+ Computer Games) Bill 2012–Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee–to report by 16 March 2012
- Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Amendment Bill 2012–Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee–to report by 8 May 2012
Proposed reference
The Senate did not agree to refer matters relating to the Murray Darling draft Basin Plan to the Environment and Communications References Committee.
Reporting date extended
The Senate extended the reporting date for the inquiry of the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee into the Foreign Investment Review Board national interest test to 27 June 2012.
Notices of motion
To refer bills to a committee
- Fairer Private Health Insurance Incentives Bill 2012 and 2 related bills–Economics Legislation Committee–to report by 19 June 2012–notice given by Senator Fierravanti-Wells
To hold a meeting when the Senate is sitting
- Electoral Matters Joint Committee–14 March 2012–private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
Membership
The Senate agreed to the following changes to committee membership:
- Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee–Senator Ludlam to replace Senator Wright for the committee’s inquiry into the Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment (R 18+ Computer Games) Bill 2012
- Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee–Senator Ludlam to replace Senator Siewert for the committee’s inquiry into the Aviation Transport Security Amendment (Screening) Bill 2012
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
Orders with continuing effect
Indexed lists of departmental and agency files published on the Internet
A statement of compliance for the Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education portfolio was tabled [Letters of advice about certain files created by departments and agencies are required to be tabled twice a year]
Departmental and agency contracts published on the Internet
Letters of advice for various agencies were tabled [Letters of advice about certain contracts valued at $100 000 or more entered into by departments and agencies are required to be tabled twice a year]
Documents discussed
Government documents, committee reports, government responses and Auditor‑General’s reports were discussed.
Other business
Questions without notice and issues arising during question time–first question
Adjournment debate–first speaker
Motions agreed to
Motion negatived
Motion debated
Notices of motion
Notices of motion given today are available in the Senate Journals [see Journals entries 4 and 26].
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 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.
Follow the Australian Senate on Twitter: @AuSenate
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