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No. 12/2008

Tuesday, 11 March 2008

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The Senate met from 12.30pm until 7.20pm

Legislation

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

Bills considered

The following bills were introduced

• Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2007-2008;
  Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2007-2008
  [passed by the House of Representatives on 20 February 2008]
• Higher Education Support Amendment (VET FEE-HELP Assistance) Bill 2008 [passed by the House of Representatives on 20 February 2008]
• Social Security and Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Enhanced Allowances) Bill 2008 [passed by the House of Representatives on 20 February 2008]
• Tax Laws Amendment (2008 Measures No. 1) Bill 2008 [passed by the House of Representatives on 21 February 2008]

The following bills were passed

• Cross-Border Insolvency Bill 2008
• Financial Sector Legislation Amendment (Review of Prudential Decisions) Bill 2008

[The House of Representatives will now consider these bills]

Notices of motion

To introduce bills

• Communications Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2008–notice given by the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Senator Conroy)
• Commonwealth Electoral (Above-the-Line Voting) Amendment Bill 2008–notice given by the Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Bob Brown) [private senator's bill]
• Drink Container Recycling Bill 2008–notice given by the Leader of the Family First Party (Senator Fielding) [private senator's bill]
• Special Broadcasting Service Amendment (Prohibition of Disruptive Advertising) Bill 2008–notice given by the Leader of the Australian Democrats (Senator Allison) [private senator's bill]

To restore bills to the Notice Paper

• Notice given by Senator Bartlett to restore eight private senators' bills to the Notice Paper at the stage reached in the last Parliament

Bills assented to

Assent to a number of laws was reported in the Senate

Committees

For scheduled public committee hearings
For committee reports

Estimates hearing

The Senate authorised the Economics Committee to hold a public meeting while the Senate was sitting on 11 March 2008 from 7.30pm to further consider the 2007-08 additional estimates for the Office of the Chief Scientist.

The committee met from 7.32pm until 8.43pm, called the Office of the Chief Scientist of the Innovation, Industry, Science and Research portfolio, and concluded its 2007-08 additional estimates hearings.

Notices of motion

To extend reporting deadlines:

• Select Committee on State Government Financial Management–to report by 18 June 2008

To refer matters to committees:

• 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

Membership

• The Senate agreed to various changes to committee membership
• Messages from the House of Representatives were reported, advising of 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, including Governor-General's Proclamations] and a statement relating to the Parliamentary Entitlements Amendment Regulations 2008 was made by the Special Minister of State (Senator Faulkner)

Orders for the production of documents

Notices of motion

The following notices of motion were given by the Leader of the Australian Democrats (Senator Allison):

• Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (Senator Conroy) to table a copy of the KPMG ABC Funding Adequacy and Efficiency Review report–no later than 4.30pm on 20 March 2008
• Minister representing the Minister for Education (Senator Carr) to table a copy of the Department of Education, Science and Training review of private school funding report–no later than 4.30pm on 20 March 2008

Orders with continuing effect

Indexed lists of departmental and agency files published on the Internet

A statement of compliance for AusAID 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

Statements of compliance for various agencies were tabled [see Journals entries nos 25 and 28] [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. 23 to 26 of 2007-08 [see Journals entries nos 24 and 26]
• Government documents [see Journals entries nos 2 and 23]
• 3 petitions

Ministerial statements tabled

The Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law (Senator Sherry) tabled ministerial statements about:

• Australia – US ‘open skies' agreement
• Afghanistan [The Senate debated and agreed to a motion to take note of the statement. The motion was agreed to]
• Youth 2020 summit
• Review of export policies and programs
• Australia 's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol [The Senate debated and agreed to a motion to take note of the statement. The motion was agreed to]

Other business

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

Adjournment debate–first speaker

Former Senator Sid Spindler

The President informed the Senate of the death on 1 March 2008 of Sid Spindler, a senator for Victoria from 1990 to 1996. The Senate agreed to a condolence motion moved by the Leader of the Government in the Senate (Senator Evans).

Statement by President

The President made a statement in response to a question asked by Senator Ian Macdonald on 14 February 2008 relating to ministers providing corrections to answers to questions without notice. A motion to take note of the statement was agreed to.

Motions agreed to

• Indigenous Australians affected by trachoma–moved by the Leader of the Australian Democrats (Senator Allison)
• Inflation and wages pressure in the Australian economy–moved by the Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Bob Brown)
• Ms Ingrid Betancourt–moved by the Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Bob Brown)

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

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