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No. 21/2008

Tuesday, 13 May 2008

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The Senate met from 12.30pm until 8.40pm

Senators

Casual vacancy

The President announced the resignation on 5 May 2008 of Senator Robert Ray. Senator Jacinta Collins was sworn in as a senator for Victoria to fill the vacancy.

Valedictory speeches were made for Senator Ray.

Death of former senators

The President informed the Senate of the deaths of two former senators:

• on 27 March 2008, Ruth Nancy Coleman, a senator for Western Australia from 1974 to 1987–motion moved by the Leader of the Government in the Senate (Senator Evans) and supported
• on 8 April 2008, John Norman Button, a senator for Victoria from 1974 to 1993–motion moved by the Leader of the Government in the Senate (Senator Evans) and supported

Budget 2008-09

Budget Papers, Portfolio Budget Statements and related sites <www.budget.gov.au>

The Minister representing the Minister for Finance and Deregulation (Senator Sherry) tabled the Budget statement for the year 2008-09 and associated budget papers and ministerial statements.

Portfolio budget statements and portfolio supplementary additional estimates statements for parliamentary and executive departments were also tabled.

The Senate referred budget documents to committees to enable them to consider estimates. Estimates hearings will take place from 26 May to 6 June 2008.

The Opposition and other parties will make their responses to the Budget statement on Thursday, 15 May 2008.

Committees

For scheduled public committee hearings

For committee reports

Reports tabled

Reports on legislation

• Exposure drafts of the Wheat Export Marketing Bill 2008 and the Wheat Export Marketing (Repeal and Consequential Amendments) Bill 2008–Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee–Interim report and final report
• Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Emergency Response Consolidation) Bill 2008–Community Affairs Committee–Interim report [Reporting date for the final report extended to 15 May 2008]
• Tax Laws Amendment (Personal Income Tax Reduction) Bill 2008–Economics Committee
• Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2008–Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee–Interim report and final report
• Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Communications Fund) Bill 2008–Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee
• Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (National Broadband Network) Bill 2008–Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee–Interim report and final report

Other reports

• Economics Committee–Australia's mandatory last resort home warranty insurance schemes–Interim report [Reporting date for the final report extended to 16 October 2008]

Notices of motion given

To extend a reporting deadline:

• Australia's involvement in peacekeeping operations–Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee–to report by 26 June 2008

To hold meetings when the Senate is sitting:

• Australian Crime Commission Joint Committee–17 June 2008 from 3.30pm to 7.00 pm–Australian Crime Commission Amendment Act 2007
• Community Affairs Committee–15 May 2008 from 3.30pm to 7.15pm–Alcohol Toll Reduction Bill 2007 [2008]

To refer matters to committees:

• Commonwealth Electoral (Above-the-Line Voting) Amendment Bill 2008–Electoral Matters Joint Committee–to be referred to the Committee as part of its inquiry into all aspects of the 2007 Federal Election
• Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999–Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee–to report by 27 November 2008
• Lobbying Code of Conduct–Finance and Public Administration Committee–to report by the first sitting Thursday of August 2008
• Special Disability Trusts–Community Affairs Committee–to report by 18 September 2008

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–Orders with continuing effect

Indexed lists of departmental and agency files published on the Internet

Statements of compliance for various agencies were tabled [Letters of advice about certain files created by departments and agencies are required to be tabled twice a year] [see Journal entries nos 28 and 31]

Departmental and agency contracts published on the Internet

A statement of compliance for the Treasury portfolio was 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 tabled

• Auditor-General–Audit reports nos 27 to 32 of 2007-08
• Government documents [See Journal entries nos 2 and 26]
• 2 petitions

Ministerial statements tabled

Ministerial statements were tabled as follows:

• Lobbying code of conduct and register of lobbyists–tabled by the Special Minister of State (Senator Faulkner) [The Senate debated and agreed to a motion to take note of the statement]
• Regional development Australia–tabled by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing (Senator McLucas) [A motion to take note of the statement was agreed to]

Other business

Questions without notice and issues arising during question time–first question

Adjournment debate–first speaker

Death of Lance Corporal Jason Marks

The Leader of the Government in the Senate (Senator Evans) moved that the Senate record its deep regret at the death of Lance Corporal Jason Marks while on a combat operation in Afghanistan. The motion was supported.

Statement by President

The President made a statement relating to unparliamentary language and a matter raised by Senator Abetz on 20 March 2008.

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

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