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No. 13/2008

Wednesday, 12 March 2008

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The Senate met from 9.30am until 7.48pm

Legislation

Bills and related documents available on BillsNet <www.aph.gov.au/bills/index.htm>

Bills considered

The following bills were introduced

• Communications Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2008 [new Senate bill]
• Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment (2008 Measures No. 1) Bill 2008 [passed by the House of Representatives on 11 March 2008]
• Skills Australia Bill 2008 [passed by the House of Representatives on 11 March 2008]
• Special Broadcasting Service Amendment (Prohibition of Disruptive Advertising) Bill 2008 [private senator's bill]
• Therapeutic Goods Amendment (Poisons Standard) Bill 2008 [passed by the House of Representatives on 11 March 2008]
• Trade Practices Amendment (Access Declarations) Bill 2008 [passed by the House of Representatives on 11 March 2008]

Bills restored to the Notice Paper

The Senate agreed to restore eight private senators' bills to the Notice Paper at the stage reached in the last Parliament.

The following bills were passed

• Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment (2008 Measures No. 1) Bill 2008
• Skills Australia Bill 2008
• Social Security and Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Enhanced Allowances) Bill 2008

[These bills will now be assented to]

Notice of motion

To introduce a bill

• Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Trustee Board and Other Measures) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2008–notice given by the Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law (Senator Sherry)

Committees

For scheduled public committee hearings
For committee reports

Estimates

The Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee tabled additional information arising from the 2007-08 budget estimates hearings.

Report tabled

• Scrutiny of Bills Committee– Alert Digest No. 1 of 2008 and 1st report of 2008 [contain assessments of bills on civil liberties and related grounds]

New inquiries

Selection of Bills Committee report

The Senate adopted report no. 2 of the Selection of Bills Committee, and made the following references:

• National Market Driven Energy Efficiency Target Bill 2007 [2008]–Economics Committee–to report by 30 May 2008
• Poker Machine Harm Reduction Tax (Administration) Bill 2008–Community Affairs Committee–to report by 25 June 2008
• Renewable Energy Legislation Amendment (Renewable Power Percentage) Bill 2008–Economics Committee–to report by 30 May 2008
• Rights of the Terminally Ill (Euthanasia Laws Repeal) Bill 2008–Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee–to report by 1 May 2008
• Stolen Generation Compensation Bill 2008–Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee–to report by 16 June 2008
• Tax Laws Amendment (Personal Income Tax Reduction) Bill 2008–Economics Committee–to report by 1 May 2008

Other references

• 2007 Federal Election–Electoral Matters Joint Committee
• Exposure drafts of the Wheat Export Marketing Bill 2008 and a related bill–Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee–to report by 11 April 2008
• Sexualisation of children in the media–Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee–to report by 23 June 2008

Reporting date extended

The Senate agreed to extend the reporting date for the Select Committee on State Government Financial Management to 18 June 2008.

Notice of motion given

A notice of motion was given for the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee to report on the exposure drafts of the Wheat Export Marketing Bill 2008 and a related bill by 24 April 2008.

Membership

• The Senate agreed to various changes to committee membership [See Journals entries nos 30 and 37]
• A message from the House of Representatives was reported advising various appointments to joint committees

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 defeated

A motion moved by the Leader of the Australian Democrats (Senator Allison) requiring the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Senator Conroy) to table a copy of the KPMG ABC Funding Adequacy and Efficiency Review report was defeated.

Documents tabled

• Australian parliamentary delegation–53rd Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference, New Delhi, India 21 to 29 September 2007 and bilateral visit to the Republic of the Philippines, 1 to 5 October 2007
• Government documents [and considered]
• A petition

Ministerial statement tabled

The Minister for Human Services (Senator Ludwig) tabled a ministerial statement on fertility policy. A motion to take note of the statement was agreed to.

Other business

Questions without notice and issues arising during question time–first question
Matters of public interest debate–first speaker
Adjournment debate–first speaker

Motions agreed to

• Alcohol abuse–moved by Senator Murray
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women–moved by the Leader of the Australian Democrats (Senator Allison) and Senator Stott Despoja
• Vienna Forum to Fight Human Trafficking–moved by Senator Ellison

Address-in-reply

Debate continued on the Address-in-reply to the Governor-General's speech.

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

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e-mail: sds@aph.gov.au

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