Senate Daily Summary - 19 March 2013

No. 17/2013

Tuesday, 19 March 2013

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The Senate met from 12.30 pm until 9.22 pm

Legislation

Bills considered

The following bills were introduced

• Health Insurance Amendment (Medicare Funding for Certain Types of Abortion) Bill 2013 [private senator’s bill] [introducing senator’s second reading speech]
• Tax Laws Amendment (2012 Measures No. 6) Bill 2012 [passed by the House of Representatives on 18 March 2013] [Minister’s second reading speech]

The following bills were exempted from the cut-off order [to enable consideration in this period of sittings – 5 February to 21 March 2013]

• Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Amendment Bill 2013
• Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Finance) Bill 2013
• Export Market Development Grants Amendment Bill 2013
• Higher Education Support Amendment (Further Streamlining and Other Measures) Bill 2013
• Royal Commissions Amendment Bill 2013

The following bill was debated

• National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2013–second reading debate continued [first speaker]

The following bill was passed

• Royal Commissions Amendment Bill 2013 [first speaker in second reading debate] [The bill will now be assented to]

Notices of motion

To introduce a bill

• Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Amendment (Great Barrier Reef) Bill 2013–notice given by Senator Waters

To exempt a bill from the cut-off order [to enable consideration this period of sittings – 5 February to 21 March 2013]

• Tax Laws Amendment (2012 Measures No. 6) Bill 2012

To vary the hours of meeting and routine of business

Notices were given by the Parliamentary Secretary for School Education and Workplace Relations (Senator Collins) to vary the hours of meeting and routine of business for 20 March and 21 March to enable the Government’s legislative program to be considered.

Bills assented to

Assent to a number of laws was reported in the Senate.

See Committees for details of reports relating to legislation

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Committees

Scheduled public committee hearings
Committee reports

Estimates

Legislation committees tabled reports into the 2012-13 additional estimates

Reports tabled

Reports on legislation

• Family Assistance and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2013–Community Affairs Legislation Committee [report]
• Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Reform of Self Managed Superannuation Funds Supervisory Levy Arrangements) Bill 2013–Corporations and Financial Services Joint Committee [report]
• Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2013 Measures No. 1) Bill 2013– Corporations and Financial Services Joint Committee [report]

Other reports

• Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity Joint Committee–Annual report for 2011-12 of the Integrity Commissioner [report] [a motion to take note of the report was agreed to]
• Migration Joint Committee–Migration and multiculturalism in Australia [report] [a motion to take note of the report was debated and agreed to – first speaker]
• Public Works Joint Committee–
  • 76th annual report [report]
  • 1st report of 2013–Referrals made May to November 2012 [report]

Documents tabled

• Australian Education Bill 2012–Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee–Additional information
• National Disability Insurance Scheme Bill 2013–Community Affairs Legislation Committee–Additional information
• Native Title Amendment Bill 2012–Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee–Correction
  

New inquiry

The Senate referred matters relating to Auditor General’s reports on Tasmanian forestry industry programs to the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee to report by 6 May 2013.

Meetings during the sitting of the Senate

The Senate authorised the following meetings to be held while the Senate is sitting:

• Corporations and Financial Services Joint Committee–19 March 2013–private meeting
• Law Enforcement Joint Committee–20 March 2013 from 1.00 pm–private meeting
• Public Works Joint Committee–21 March 2013 from 5.00 pm–public meeting, followed by an in camera hearing–Sydney Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices

Notices of motion to refer a matter to a committee

• 457 visas, Enterprise Migration Agreements and Regional Migration Agreements–Legal and Constitutional Affairs References Committee–to report by 3 June 2013–notice given by Senator Xenophon

Message from the House of Representatives

A message was received from the House of Representatives agreeing to a Senate resolution setting a reporting date for the Cyber Safety Joint Select Committee of 27 June 2013.

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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, including Governor-General’s Proclamations]

Orders for the production of documents

Notices of motion

The following notices of motion were given requiring Ministers to table documents:

• The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to table the final report of the review of Commonwealth fisheries management legislation–no later than noon on 8 May 2013–notice given by Senator Siewert
• The Minister representing the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship to table information relating to the number of people and children held in immigration detention centres–no later than noon on 21 March 2013–notice given by Senators Xenophon and Madigan

Documents tabled

• Government documents [and considered]

Ministerial statement tabled

The Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers (Senator McLucas) tabled a ministerial statement about the 57th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) [a motion to take note of the statement was debated and agreed to – first speaker].

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Other business

Questions without notice and issues arising during question time–first question
Adjournment debate–first speaker

Motion agreed to

• Election of Pope Francis–moved by the Leader of The Nationals in the Senate (Senator Joyce), the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Senator Abetz) and Senators Brandis, Fierravanti-Wells, Stephens, Madigan, Back, Williams, Heffernan, Ryan, Cormann, Mason, Cash, Boswell, Bernardi and Humphries

Motions negatived

• Impact of the Browse gas hub proposal on humpback whales–moved by Senator Siewert
• Participation in the Iraq War–moved by the Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Milne)
• Public interest disclosure legislation–moved by Senator Ludlam
• Quinkan rock art galleries–moved by Senator Waters

Matter of public importance discussed

• Northern Australia–proposed by Senator Fifield [first speaker]

Notices of motion

Notices of motion given today are available in the Senate Journals.

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