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No. 17/2008

Tuesday, 18 March 2008

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The Senate met from12.30pm until 10.34pm

Legislation

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

Bills considered

The following bills were introduced

• Infrastructure Australia Bill 2008 [passed by the House of Representatives on 17 March 2008]
• National Commissioner for Children Bill 2008 [private senator's bill]

The following private senator's bill was restored to the Notice Paper

• Freedom of Information Amendment (Open Government) Bill 2003

The following bill was debated

• Infrastructure Australia Bill 2008–second reading agreed to [first speaker] [details of the bill will be considered on a future sitting day]

The following bill was passed

• Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Bill 2008–37 Government amendments agreed to [the House of Representatives will now consider the amendments made by the Senate–see Journals entries nos 4 and 25]

Notices of motion

To introduce bills

• Statute Law Revision Bill 2008–notice given by the Minister for Human Services (Senator Ludwig)
• Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (National Broadband Network) Bill 2008–notice given by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Senator Conroy)

To exempt bills from the cut-off order [to enable consideration this period of sittings]

• Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Emergency Response Consolidation) Bill 2008
• Interstate Road Transport Charge Amendment Bill 2008 and a related bill
• Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Communications Fund) Bill 2008
• Tradex Scheme Amendment Bill 2008
  –notice given by the Minister for Human Services (Senator Ludwig)

Committees

For scheduled public committee hearings
For committee reports

Estimates reports tabled

Eight committees tabled reports into the 2007-08 additional estimates.

Private meetings

The Senate authorised the Migration Joint Committee to hold private meetings otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1) during the sittings of the Senate.

Reporting dates extended

The Senate extended reporting dates for the following inquiries:

• Poker Machine Harm Reduction Tax (Administration) Bill 2008–Community Affairs Committee–to report by 12 August 2008
• Rights of the Terminally Ill (Euthanasia Laws Repeal) Bill 2008–Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee–to report by 23 June 2008

Notices of motion given

To refer matters to committees:

• Australia's capabilities in space science, industry and education–Economics Committee–to report by 23 June 2008
• Australia's space science and industry sector–Economics Committee–to report by October 2008
• Meat marketing–Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee–to report by 4 September 2008
• Schedule 1 of the Tax Laws Amendment (2008 Measures No. 1) Bill 2008–Electoral Matters Joint Committee–to report by June 2009

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 Finance and Deregulation portfolio was tabled [Letters of advice about certain files created by departments and agencies are required to be tabled twice a year]

Documents tabled

• Government documents

Ministerial statement tabled

The Minister for Human Services (Senator Ludwig) tabled a ministerial statement about global market turbulence and the Australian economy. 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

Motions agreed to

• China–moved by the Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Bob Brown)
• Death of Professor Peter Cullen–moved by Senator Siewert
• HMAS Sydney II–moved by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate ( Senator Minchin )
• Queensland local government–moved by Senator Boyce

Motions negatived

• Donations to political parties–moved by Senator Murray
• Tarkine wilderness bushfire–moved by Senator Milne

Statement by President

The President made a statement relating to unparliamentary language and a matter raised by the Minister for Climate Change and Water (Senator Wong) on 17 March 2008.

Notices of motion

Notices of motion given today are available in the Senate Journals [see Journals entries nos 7 and 26].

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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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