ABBREVIATIONS â—¬— parties and committees
| AG | Australian Greens | LP | Liberal Party of Australia [Govt] |
| ALP | Australian Labor Party [Opp] | Nats | The Nationals [Govt] |
| CA | Centre Alliance | PHON | Pauline Hanson's One Nation |
| Ind | Independent | SC | House of Representatives Selection Committee |
| JLN | Jacqui Lambie Network | SBC | Senate Selection of Bills Committee |
| KAP | Katter's Australian Party | | |
(Indigenous Australians portfolio)
Amends the: Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976 to: remove the requirement that the term of the Jabiru township lease be 99 years to allow for a shorter term between 40 and 99 years; remove the requirement that the initial grant of the township lease can only be to the Commonwealth; clarify that the new township lease will not automatically extend the term of existing Jabiru subleases beyond the term of the current town head lease; and remove redundant Jabiru-specific leasing provisions; and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to make a minor consequential amendment.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/5/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 13/5/20
(Ms Sharkie MP â—¬— CA)
Amends the Aged Care Act 1997 to: require approved residential care service providers to notify the secretary of the ratios of aged care recipients to staff members, broken down into categories of staff members, on a quarterly basis; and require a review of the proposed amendments 12 months after their commencement.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 22/7/19
- Removed from Notice Paper 11/2/20
(Health portfolio)
Amends the Aged Care Act 1997 and Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 to: introduce an emergency leave type that will enable approved providers to remain eligible for residential care subsidy in declared emergency situations; and ensure that approved providers cannot charge aged care residents a fee during a declared emergency to reserve their place in an aged care service.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/5/20
- Passed 13/5/20
Senate:
- Introduced 14/5/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 AG/negatived
- Passed 14/5/20
Assent: 15/5/20 (Act No. 41, 2020)
(Senator Griff â—¬— CA)
Amends the: Aged Care Act 1997 to require residential aged care providers to disclose their income, costs of food and medication, staff and staff training, accommodation, administration and monies paid to parent bodies in annual financial transparency reports to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner; and Corporations Act 2001 to ensure residential aged care providers include detailed financial information in annual financial statements.
Senate:
- Introduced 12/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 12/6/20
- Bill referred to Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee 18/6/20 (SBC report 6/20); report due 23/11/20
(Health portfolio)
Amends the Aged Care Act 1997 and Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 to change home care subsidy from being paid to an approved provider in advance of the home care services being delivered to a consumer, to a payment made in arrears after the services have been delivered.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 27/2/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 27/2/20, 5/3/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/pending
(Ms Sharkie MP â—¬— CA)
Amends the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Act 2018 to establish a database for nationally consistent worker screening to enable employers to search the database to screen potential employees for any history of misconduct.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 22/7/19
- Removed from Notice Paper 11/2/20
(Agriculture portfolio)
Amends the: Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Act 1994 in relation to: information to be taken into account by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) in determining applications; approval and registration for prescribed active constituents, chemical products or labels; limits on use of information; computerised decision-making by the APVMA; management of errors in an application at the preliminary assessment stage; variation of relevant particulars and conditions; variation of approval or registration during suspension; suspension or cancellation of approval or registration for provision of false or misleading information; notification and publication of voluntary recalls; obligations on holders and applicants to inform the APVMA of new information where it relates to the safety criteria; definition of 'registered chemical product'; supply or registered chemical products with unapproved label; safety, efficacy, trade and labelling criteria; clarification that the 'expiry date' is the date after which a chemical product must not be used; Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Products (Collection of Levy) Act 1994 and Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (Administration) Act 1992 to simplify reporting requirements for annual returns; Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (Administration) Act 1992 and Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code Act 1994 in relation to: the establishment of civil pecuniary penalties for providing false or misleading information; the Maximum Residue Limits Standard; and minor and technical amendments, including the removal of redundant provisions; and Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (Administration) Act 1992 to: remove the requirement for the APVMA to prepare an annual operational plan; and establish a governance board for the APVMA and cease the existing APVMA Advisory Board. Also repeals the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Legislation Amendment (Removing Re-approval and Re-registration) Act 2014.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 18/9/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 23/12/19
Senate:
(Agriculture portfolio)
Amends the Biosecurity Act 2015 and Imported Food Control Act 1992 to enable computerised decision-making for certain purposes.
Senate:
- Introduced 2/12/19
- Bill referred to Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee 28/11/19 (SBC report 9/19) upon introduction in the Senate (2/12/19); report presented out of sitting 31/1/20
- Passed 25/2/20
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 25/2/20
- Read a 1st time 25/2/20
(Prime Minister's portfolio)
Repeals the Australian Meat and Live-stock Corporation Amendment Act 1990, National Residue Survey (Consequential Provisions) Act 1992, Wool International Act 1993 and Wool International Privatisation Act 1999.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 2/7/19
- Read a 1st time 2/7/19
(Senator Rice â—¬— AG)
Amends the: Air Services Act 1995 to: provide that the functions of Airservices Australia (AA) include undertaking activities to protect the human and natural environment, community amenity and residential areas from the effects of the operation and use of aircraft, and associated effects; introduce new consultation arrangements for AA and persons affected by aircraft noise; require AA to consider the need to minimise the impact of aircraft operations on the human and natural environment, community amenity and residential areas when preparing corporate plans; expand the AA board by up to two members and require that it include an expert in environmental management and a representative of a community group affected by aircraft noise; and provide for the creation and operations of the Aircraft Noise Ombudsman and related reporting arrangements; and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to require the minister to appoint an independent Community Aviation Advocate to represent communities affected by aircraft noise.
Senate:
- Introduced 27/3/18
- 2nd reading adjourned 27/3/18
- Bill referred to Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee 28/3/18 (SBC report 4/18); extension of time to report 18/6/18; report tabled 16/8/18
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
(Home Affairs portfolio)
Amends the: Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 to: expand the circumstances in which reporting entities may rely on customer identification and verification procedures undertaken by a third party; explicitly prohibit reporting entities from providing a designated service if customer identification procedures cannot be performed; prohibit financial institutions from entering into a correspondent banking relationship that permits its accounts to be used by a shell bank; require banks to conduct due diligence assessments before entering, and during, all correspondent banking relationships; and expand exceptions to the prohibition on tipping off to permit reporting entities to share suspicious matter reports and related information with external auditors and foreign members of corporate and designated business groups;
Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 and Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act 1986 to replace existing 'designated agency' information sharing provisions (relating to the use and disclosure of AUSTRAC information) with a more general information sharing power; Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006, Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and Surveillance Devices Act 2004 to create a single reporting requirement for the cross-border movement of monetary instruments; Criminal Code Act 1995 to: clarify that the existence of one Commonwealth constitutional connector is sufficient to establish an instrument of crime offence; deem money or property provided by undercover law enforcement as part of a controlled operation to be the proceeds of crime for the purposes of prosecution; and provide for transitional arrangements; and Australian Federal Police Act 1979 to create a new offence of dishonestly representing conferral of police awards.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 17/10/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 17/10/19
Senate:
(Finance portfolio)
Appropriates additional money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the ordinary annual services of the government, in addition to the appropriations provided for by the Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2019-2020 and the Supply Act (No. 1) 2019-2020.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/2/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 4/3/20
Senate:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- Passed 23/3/20
Assent: 26/3/20 (Act No. 33, 2020)
(Finance portfolio)
Appropriates additional money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for certain expenditure, in addition to the appropriations provided for by the Appropriation Act (No. 2) 2019-2020 and the Supply Act (No. 2) 2019-2020.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/2/20
- Passed 4/3/20
Senate:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- Passed 23/3/20
Assent: 26/3/20 (Act No. 34, 2020)
(Finance portfolio)
Introduced with the Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Bill 2020, Coronavirus Economic Response Package Omnibus (Measures No. 2) Bill 2020 and Appropriation Bill (No. 6) 2019-2020 to respond to the economic impacts of the coronavirus, the bill appropriates money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the ordinary annual services of the government, in addition to the appropriations provided for by the Supply Act (No. 1) 2019-2020, the Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2019-2020, the Appropriation Act (No. 3) 2019-2020 and the Appropriation (Coronavirus Economic Response Package) Act (No. 1) 2019-2020.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 8/4/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 1 Opp/negatived; 8 Opp to Opp/negatived
- Passed 8/4/20
Senate:
- Introduced 8/4/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 1 Opp/passed; 3 Opp/negatived; 3 AG/negatived
- Passed 8/4/20
Assent: 9/4/20 (Act No. 39, 2020)
(Finance portfolio)
Introduced with the Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Bill 2020, Coronavirus Economic Response Package Omnibus (Measures No. 2) Bill 2020 and Appropriation Bill (No. 5) 2019-2020 to respond to the economic impacts of the coronavirus, the bill appropriates money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for certain expenditure, in addition to the appropriations provided for by the Supply Act (No. 2) 2019-2020, the Appropriation Act (No. 2) 2019-2020, the Appropriation Act (No. 4) 2019-2020 and the Appropriation (Coronavirus Economic Response Package) Act (No. 2) 2019-2020.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 8/4/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 1 Opp/negatived; 8 Opp to Opp/negatived
- Passed 8/4/20
Senate:
- Introduced 8/4/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 1 Opp/passed; 3 Opp/negatived; 3 AG/negatived
- Passed 8/4/20
Assent: 9/4/20 (Act No. 40, 2020)
(Finance portfolio)
Part of a package of eight bills to respond to the economic impacts of the coronavirus, the bill appropriates money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the ordinary annual services of the government, in addition to the appropriations provided for by the Appropriation Act (No. 1) 2019-2020 and the Supply Act (No. 1) 2019-2020.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 1 Opp/negatived; 2 Opp to Opp/negatived
- Passed 23/3/20
Senate:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 3 Opp/agreed to; 1 AG/agreed to; 3 AG/negatived
- Passed 23/3/20
Assent: 24/3/20 (Act No. 25, 2020)
(Finance portfolio)
Part of a package of eight bills to respond to the economic impacts of the coronavirus, the bill appropriates money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund for certain expenditure, in addition to the appropriations provided for by the Appropriation Act (No. 2) 2019-2020 and the Supply Act (No. 2) 2019-2020.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 1 Opp/negatived; 2 Opp to Opp/negatived
- Passed 23/3/20
Senate:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 3 Opp/agreed to; 1 AG/agreed to; 3 AG/negatived
- Passed 23/3/20
Assent: 24/3/20 (Act No. 26, 2020)
(Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development portfolio)
Part of a package of eight bills to respond to the economic impacts of the coronavirus, the bill appropriates the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the purposes of making payments to support regions, industry sectors and communities in severely affected regions.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 1 Opp/negatived; 2 Opp to Opp/negatived
- Passed 23/3/20
Senate:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 3 Opp/agreed to; 1 AG/agreed to; 3 AG/negatived
- Committee amendments: 5 AG/negatived
- Passed 23/3/20
Assent: 24/3/20 (Act No. 24, 2020)
(Mr Katter MP â—¬— KAP)
Provides for independent audits of Australian banking corporations and their subsidiaries by the Auditor-General.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 2/12/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 2/12/19
(Mr Wilkie MP â—¬— Ind)
Gives effect to certain provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhumane or Degrading Treatment or Punishment by: declaring an Australian Bill of Rights; providing that any Commonwealth, state or territory law that is inconsistent with the Bill of Rights is invalid to the extent of the inconsistency; specifying that Commonwealth, state and territory laws must be interpreted consistently with the Bill of Rights; and providing the Australian Human Rights Commission with a range of additional powers and functions in relation to the rights and freedoms in the Bill of Rights.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 16/9/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 16/9/19
(Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts portfolio)
Amends the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Act 1983 to: amend the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Charter to require the ABC to broadcast programs that contribute to a sense of regional and national identity, and inform and entertain, and reflect the geographic and cultural diversity of, the Australian community; require the ABC Board to have two members with a substantial connection to, or substantial experience in, a regional area through business, industry or community involvement; establish a Regional Advisory Council to advise the ABC Board; and require the ABC Board to report annually on a range of additional matters, including the total number of individuals employed in regional and metropolitan areas, and the journalist to support staff ratio of employees.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 31/7/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 31/7/19, 16/9/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/pending
(Treasury portfolio)
Establishes the Australian Business Growth Fund (ABGF) to: provide a source of 'patient capital' for small and medium enterprises; authorise investment by the Commonwealth in the ABGF; and appropriate $100 million for the purposes of the ABGF.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 5/12/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 6/2/20
Senate:
- Provisions of bill referred to Senate Economics Legislation Committee 6/2/20 (SBC report 1/20); report presented out of sitting 21/2/20
- Introduced 10/2/20
- In committee 27/2/20
- Committee amendments: 2 Opp/passed; 1 CA/pending
Part of a package of eight bills to respond to the economic impacts of the coronavirus, the bill: establishes the Australian Business Growth Fund to provide a source of patient capital for small and medium enterprises; and authorises investment by the Commonwealth in the Fund, and appropriates the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the purposes of that investment.
(Treasury portfolio)
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 1 Opp/negatived; 2 Opp to Opp/negatived
- Passed 23/3/20
Senate:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 3 Opp/agreed to; 1 AG/agreed to; 3 AG/negatived
- Passed 23/3/20
Assent: 24/3/20 (Act No. 28, 2020)
(Senator Di Natale â—¬— AG)
Establishes the Australian Cannabis Agency to regulate the production and distribution of recreational cannabis in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.
Senate:
- Introduced 27/11/18
- 2nd reading adjourned 27/11/18
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
(Dr Leigh MP â—¬— ALP)
Amends the Australian Capital Territory (Self-Government) Act 1988 to allow the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Legislative Assembly to make laws relating to the Australian Federal Police's (AFP) provision of police services, where those laws relate to the investigation of integrity and corruption with respect to AFP services provided for the ACT.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 24/2/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 24/2/20
(Home Affairs portfolio)
Amends the: Australian Citizenship Act 2007 to: replace the current arrangements, whereby a person's Australian citizenship automatically ceases through certain conduct, with a discretion for the Minister for Home Affairs to determine that a person who is a national or citizen of a country other than Australia ceases to be an Australian citizen if they have: engaged in specified terrorism-related conduct; fought for, or been in the service of, a declared terrorist organisation outside Australia; or engaged in conduct that results in a conviction for a specified terrorism offence; include transitional provisions to deal with cases where the minister is unaware that a person may have lost their citizenship under the current provisions; reduce the sentence term threshold for which a person convicted of a specified terrorism offence may be considered for citizenship cessation from 6 to 3 years; and extend the period in which persons convicted of a specified terrorism offence resulting in at least 3 years imprisonment may be considered for citizenship cessation from 12 December 2015 to 29 May 2003; and Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Act 2010 and Intelligence Services Act 2001 to enable the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security to review the operation, effectiveness and implication of the citizenship cessation provisions.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 19/9/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 19/9/19
- Bill referred to Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security 19/9/19
(Education portfolio)
Amends the Australian Education Act 2013 to: introduce a new measure of income methodology for calculating a school community's capacity to contribute financially to a non-government school; enable adjustments to be made to the transition pathways of non-government schools to a nationally consistent Commonwealth share of the Schooling Resource Standard; and provide the authority and appropriation for the Commonwealth to make GST-inclusive payments where necessary.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 26/2/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 4/3/20
Senate:
Assent: 26/3/20 (Act No. 36, 2020)
(Senator Hanson â—¬— PHON)
Amends the: Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority Act 2008 to require the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority to ensure that school education provides a balanced presentation of opposing views on political, historical and scientific issues; and Australian Education Act 2013 to make financial assistance to a state or territory conditional on the state or territory having certain laws in force.
Senate:
- Introduced 10/2/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 10/2/20
(Senator Griff â—¬— CA)
Amends the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Act 1987 to require accredited assisted reproductive technology (ART) centres to provide certain statistical information to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and require the AIHW to publish this statistical information and a list of non-complying accredited ART centres.
Senate:
- Introduced 4/7/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 4/7/19
- Bill referred to Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee 25/7/19 (SBC report 3/19); extension of time to report 11/11/19; report tabled 4/12/19
(Senator Di Natale â—¬— AG)
The bill: enshrines the principles of diversity and multiculturalism; establishes the Australian Multicultural Commission and provides for its functions, powers, constitution, operation and inquiries; and provides for annual reporting requirements for Commonwealth entities.
Senate:
- Introduced 23/8/18
- 2nd reading adjourned 23/8/18
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
(Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio)
Amends the Australian Passports Act 2005 to enable the minister to make Australian travel document data available for the purposes of, and by the automated means intrinsic to, the identity-matching services to which the Commonwealth, states and territories agreed in the Intergovernmental Agreement on Identity Matching Services, agreed by COAG on 5 October 2017.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 31/7/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 31/7/19
- Bill referred to Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security 2/8/19; report tabled in House 24/10/19 and Senate 13/11/19
(Treasury portfolio)
Part of a package of seven bills to implement changes to the financial institution supervisory levy framework, the bill amends the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority Act 1998 to enable the Commonwealth to recover the costs of a wider range of activities that are funded by the Commonwealth and recoverable through the framework.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/5/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 12/6/20
Senate:
- Introduced 12/6/20
- Passed 18/6/20
Assent: 19/6/20 (Act No. 54, 2020)
(Act citation: Australian Research Council Amendment Act 2020)
(Education portfolio)
Amends the Australian Research Council Act 2001 to: apply indexation to existing appropriation amounts for the financial years commencing on 1 July 2019, 1 July 2020 and 1 July 2021; and insert a new funding cap for the financial year commencing on 1 July 2022.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 18/9/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Consideration in detail amendment: 1 AG/negatived
- Passed 26/11/19
Senate:
- Introduced 27/11/19
- Committee amendment: 1 AG/negatived
- Passed 11/2/20
Assent: 26/2/20 (Act No. 7, 2020)
(Senator Faruqi â—¬— AG)
Amends the Australian Research Council Act 2001 to remove ministerial discretion in relation to the approval of research grants administered by the Australian Research Council.
Senate:
- Introduced 15/11/18
- 2nd reading adjourned 15/11/18
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
(Home Affairs portfolio)
Implements the government's response to the report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security into ASIO's questioning and detention powers by amending the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Act 1979 in relation to compulsory questioning powers and tracking devices. Also amends four Acts to make consequential amendments; and makes amendments contingent on the commencement of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Act 2020.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/5/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 13/5/20
- Bill referred to Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security 13/5/20
(Act citation: Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Amendment (Enhancing Australiaâ—¬—¢s Anti-Doping Capability) Act 2020)
(Youth and Sport portfolio)
Implements certain recommendations of the Report of the Review of Australia's Sports Integrity Arrangements (the Wood review) by amending the: Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Act 2006 and Australian Sports Commission Act 1989 to abolish the Anti-Doping Rule Violation Panel; and Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Act 2006 to: extend statutory protection against civil actions to national sporting organisations and their staff in the exercise of anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) functions; extend the current protection that allows an entrusted person to resist production of protected information to a court or tribunal to any person in possession of protected information; change the statutory threshold at which the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority CEO may issue a disclosure notice from 'reasonably believes' (that a person has information, documents or things that may be relevant to administration of the national anti-doping scheme) to 'reasonably suspects'; allow a person entitled to inspect or view a document produced pursuant to a disclosure notice to do so only at such times and places as the CEO thinks appropriate; increase the penalty for non-compliance with a disclosure notice from 30 to 60 penalty units; and provide that a person is not excused from complying with the requirement to answer a question, and give information or provide a document or thing on the grounds that doing so may incriminate them or expose them to a penalty. Also makes amendments to three Acts contingent on the commencement of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Amendment (Sport Integrity Australia) Act 2019.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 17/10/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 4/12/19
Senate:
- Provisions of bill referred to Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee 28/11/19 (SBC report 9/19); progress report presented out of sitting 3/2/20; extension of time for final report 5/2/20; final report tabled 24/2/20
- Introduced 5/12/19
- Committee amendments: 1 Opp/passed; 7 AG/negatived
- Passed 11/6/20
House of Representatives:
- House of Representatives agreed to Senate amendment 12/6/20
Assent: 16/6/20 (Act No. 51, 2020)
(Act citation: Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Amendment (Sport Integrity Australia) Act 2020)
(Youth and Sport portfolio)
Implements a recommendation of the Report of the Review of Australia's Sports Integrity Arrangements (the Wood review) by amending the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Act 2006 to: establish Sport Integrity Australia to bring together the functions of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority and the National Integrity of Sport Unit within the Department of Health, as well as the sports integrity functions of Sport Australia; and amend the short title of the Act to the Sport Integrity Australia Act 2019. Also makes consequential amendments to eight Acts; and makes amendments to three Acts contingent on the commencement of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Amendment (Enhancing Australia's Anti-Doping Capability) Act 2019.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 17/10/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 5/12/19
Senate:
- Provisions of bill referred to Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee 14/11/19 (SBC report 8/19); progress report presented out of siting 3/2/20; extension of time for final report 5/2/20; final report tabled 5/2/20
- Introduced 5/12/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 AG/negatived
- Passed 24/2/20
Assent: 6/3/20 (Act No. 11, 2020)
(Senator Rice â—¬— AG)
Amends the Australian Sports Commission Act 1989 to provide for the Australian Sports Commission to fund applications that were submitted to the Community Sports Infrastructure Grants program and recommended to the Minister for Sports for funding, but subsequently not funded under the program.
Senate:
- Introduced 14/5/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 14/5/20
(Treasury portfolio)
Part of a package of seven bills to implement changes to the financial institution supervisory levy framework, the bill amends the Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions Supervisory Levy Imposition Act 1998 to: increase the statutory upper limit on the authorised deposit-taking institutions supervisory levy to $10 million for the financial year commencing on 1 July 2020; and amend the calculation of the indexation factor used to establish the statutory upper limits applying in later years.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/5/20
- Passed 12/6/20
Senate:
- Introduced 12/6/20
- Passed 18/6/20
Assent: 19/6/20 (Act No. 55, 2020)
(Treasury portfolio)
Part of a package of seven bills to implement changes to the financial institution supervisory levy framework, the bill amends the Authorised Non-operating Holding Companies Supervisory Levy Imposition Act 1998 to: increase the statutory upper limit on the authorised non-operating holding companies supervisory levy to $10 million for the financial year commencing on 1 July 2020; and amend the calculation of the indexation factor used to establish the statutory upper limits applying in later years.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/5/20
- Passed 12/6/20
Senate:
- Introduced 12/6/20
- Passed 18/6/20
Assent: 19/6/20 (Act No. 56, 2020)
(Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development portfolio)
Amends the: Civil Aviation (Carriers' Liability) Act 1959 (CACL Act) to: reflect the increase to the domestic liability cap for death or injury to passengers to $925 000 as effected by the Civil Aviation (Carriers' Liability) Regulations 2019; provide for the secretary to make regulations about permitted exclusions of liability in relation to the scope of mandatory insurance that airlines must obtain; and provide that servants and agents of a carrier can avail themselves of the same conditions of liability in addition to the limits of liability applicable to air carriers; and Air Accidents (Commonwealth Government Liability) Act 1963 to provide that increases to the liability caps under Part IV of the CACL Act are incorporated regardless of whether implemented by amendments to the CACL Act or via regulation.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/5/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 13/5/20
(Senator Roberts â—¬— PHON)
Amends the Banking Act 1959 to: provide that the conversion and write-off provisions do not extend to the bail-in of deposit accounts; and provide that nothing in the Act or other Commonwealth legislation gives the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority the power to implement, authorise or direct the implementation of bail-in of deposit accounts.
Senate:
- Introduced 27/2/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 27/2/20
- Bill referred to Senate Economics Legislation Committee 18/6/20 (SBC report 6/20); report due 10/8/20
(Ms Sharkie MP â—¬— CA)
Amends the Banking Act 1959 to impose certain obligations and requirements on authorised deposit-taking institutions in relation to loans of up to $5 million to small primary production businesses.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 22/7/19
- Bill referred to House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics 25/7/19 (SC report no. 2)
- Removed from Notice Paper 11/2/20
(Agriculture, Water and the Environment portfolio)
Amends the Biosecurity Act 2015 to: enable regulations to prescribe different penalty amounts for infringement notices issued for different kinds of alleged contraventions; clarify that the regulations may prescribe different periods of time to pay an infringement notice depending on the kind of goods or class of goods to which an alleged contravention relates; enable the Director of Biosecurity to determine goods or classes of goods that can attract a higher infringement notice amount and provide that the determination is not disallowable; and enable the regulations to incorporate references to the determination as in force from time to time.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 17/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 17/6/20
Senate:
(Treasury portfolio)
Part of a package of eight bills to respond to the economic impacts of the coronavirus, the bill provides for the Commissioner of Taxation to make cash flow boost payments to eligible entities comprising the first cash flow boost payments and the second cash flow boost payments.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 1 Opp/negatived; 2 Opp to Opp/negatived
- Passed 23/3/20
Senate:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 3 Opp/agreed to; 1 AG/agreed to; 3 AG/negatived
- Passed 23/3/20
Assent: 24/3/20 (Act No. 23, 2020)
(Senator Steele-John â—¬— AG)
Amends the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 to: require national broadcasters, commercial television broadcasting licensees and subscription television licensees to provide a minimum number of hours of television audio description per week; and provide for the Australian Communications and Media Authority to enforce and review the new requirement.
Senate:
- Introduced 12/2/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 12/2/19
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
(Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts portfolio)
Amends the: Broadcasting Services Act 1992 to: enable regional commercial radio broadcasting licensees to nominate to split exemption periods from local news and information content obligations into two periods, together totalling no more than five weeks; amend the minimum service standard obligations which apply after a trigger event occurs; and permit regional and remote commercial television broadcasting licensees to be deemed to have complied with the multi-channel Australian content quota obligation in certain circumstances; and Australian Communications and Media Authority Act 2005 to enable the Australian Communications and Media Authority to delegate an information-gathering power.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 11/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 11/6/20, 16/6/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/pending
(Act citation: Business Names Registration (Fees) Amendment (Registries Modernisation) Act 2020)
(Treasury portfolio)
Introduced with the Commonwealth Registers Bill 2019, Treasury Laws Amendment (Registries Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill 2019, Corporations (Fees) Amendment (Registries Modernisation) Bill 2019 and National Consumer Credit Protection (Fees) Amendment (Registries Modernisation) Bill 2019 to create a new Commonwealth business registry regime, the bill amends the Business Names Registration (Fees) Act 2011 to allow the registrar to collect fees related to the performance of registry functions or the exercise of a registry power.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/12/19
- Passed 12/2/20
Senate:
- Introduced 13/2/20
- Passed 12/6/20
Assent: 22/6/20 (Act No. 66, 2020)
(Mr Bandt MP â—¬— AG)
Amends the Climate Change Authority Act 2011 to require the Climate Change Authority to review, by 1 July 2020, the impact of three degrees of global warming on the economy and the environment.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 2/12/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 2/12/19
(Mr Bandt MP â—¬— AG)
The bill: declares an environment and climate emergency; outlines the obligations of public service agencies to recognise and act in accordance with the declaration; and establishes the Multi-Party Climate Emergency Committee to report to Cabinet in relation to the climate emergency declaration.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 2/3/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 2/3/20
(Senator Di Natale â—¬— AG)
Prohibits the Commonwealth government or its agencies from funding the refurbishment, building or purchase, or assisting in the transfer of ownership, of a coal-fired power station.
Senate:
- Introduced 17/10/17
- 2nd reading adjourned 17/10/17, 19/3/18, 10/9/18
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
- Bill referred to Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee 4/7/19 (SBC report 2/19); extensions of time to report 14/10/19, 8/4/20; report presented out of sitting 16/4/20
(Mr Bandt MP â—¬— AG)
Prohibits the Commonwealth government or its agencies from funding the refurbishment, building or purchase of, or providing indirect assistance to, a coal-fired power station.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 22/7/19
- Removed from Notice Paper 11/2/20
(Mr Bandt MP â—¬— AG)
Amends the: Customs Act 1901 to limit, and prohibit from 2030, the importation and exportation of thermal coal unless it is being used for research, analysis or display; and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to make consequential amendments.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 14/10/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 14/10/19
(Senator Waters â—¬— AG)
Amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to: prohibit political donations from property developers, the tobacco industry, banking industry, liquor and gambling businesses, pharmaceutical companies, the mining industry and representative organisations for these industries; imposes a cumulative limit on political donations from any source of $3000 per election term; and extend the definition of 'gift' to include subscription and membership fees, as well as attendance at fundraising events.
Senate:
- Introduced 17/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 17/6/20
- Bill referred to Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee 18/6/20 (SBC report 6/20); report due second sitting day of March 2021
(Senator Lambie â—¬— JLN)
Amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to: extend the definition of reporting entities to include political entities, campaigners, associated entities and third parties; lower the political donation disclosure threshold from $14 000 to $2500; require disclosure by reporting entities and donors when the sum of the gifts and donations provided by the same donor to the same reporting entity is greater than the disclosure threshold; require disclosure by reporting entities within 7 days of a reportable gift being made, and require disclosure within 7 days of any subsequent gifts until the end of the reporting period; require reporting entities to lodge half-yearly returns with details of the nature and source of all reportable donations and other receipts; require reporting entities to hold an electoral expenditure account with an authorised deposit-taking institution, from which all electoral expenditure must be paid; increase the monitoring and investigatory powers of the Australian Electoral Commission; and provide for infringement notices and civil penalty provisions for reporting entities that fail to meet their disclosure obligations.
Senate:
- Introduced 5/2/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 5/2/20
- Bill referred to Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee 27/2/20 (SBC report 3/20); extension of time to report 8/4/20; report due 25/9/20
(Senators McCarthy and Farrell â—¬— ALP)
Amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to provide for a minimum of two divisions in the Northern Territory in the House of Representatives.
Senate:
- Introduced 11/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 11/6/20
- Bill referred to Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters 12/6/20
(Ms Sharkie MP â—¬— CA)
Amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to: lower the political donation disclosure threshold from $13 000 to $1000; and remove the indexation of the disclosure threshold.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 2/12/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 2/12/19
- Bill referred to Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters 5/2/20 (SC report no. 10); report presented to Senate out of sitting 28/5/20; report tabled in House of Representatives 11/6/20
(Senator Steele-John â—¬— AG)
Amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 and Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 to: lower the minimum (non-compulsory) voting age in Australian federal elections and referenda from 18 to 16 years; allow 14 and 15 year olds to be added to the electoral roll in preparation for their eligibility to vote at 16 years of age; provide for 16 and 17 year olds to be included in the certified list of voters (but not to be given a penalty notice if they do not vote); and provide that an eligible voter, who is not yet on the electoral roll or enrolled at their correct address, is able to cast a provisional vote on election day.
Senate:
- Introduced 18/6/18
- 2nd reading adjourned 18/6/18, 21/6/18
- Bill referred to Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters 25/6/18; extensions of time to report 20/9/18, 28/11/18; report presented out of sitting 29/3/19; report tabled in House of Representatives 2/4/19
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
(Mr Bandt MP â—¬— AG)
Amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 and Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 to: lower the minimum (non-compulsory) voting age in Australian federal elections and referenda from 18 to 16 years; allow 14 and 15 year olds to be added to the electoral roll in preparation for their eligibility to vote at 16 years of age; provide for 16 and 17 year olds to be included in the certified list of voters (but not to be given a penalty notice if they do not vote); and provide that an eligible voter, who is not yet on the electoral roll or enrolled at their correct address, is able to cast a provisional vote on election day.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 21/10/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 21/10/19
(Ms Sharkie MP â—¬— CA)
Amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to require political parties, state branches of political parties and political campaigners to provide a notice to the Australian Electoral Commission of political donations received over the disclosure threshold amount of $13 800 within five business days of receiving the donation.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 16/9/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 16/9/19
- Bill referred to Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters 19/9/19 (SC report no. 6); report presented to Senate out of sitting 17/12/19; report tabled in House of Representatives 5/2/20
(Senator Farrell â—¬— ALP)
Amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to: lower the political donation disclosure threshold from $13 800 to $1000; and remove the indexation of the disclosure threshold.
Senate:
- Introduced 27/11/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 27/11/19
(Senator Farrell â—¬— ALP)
Amends the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to require political parties and their associated entities, candidates, and Senate groups to provide a disclosure return to the Australian Electoral Commission of all political donations and gift received at or above the disclosure threshold of $14 000 within seven days of receiving the donation or gift.
Senate:
- Introduced 27/11/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 27/11/19
(Act citation: Commonwealth Registers Act 2020)
(Treasury portfolio)
Introduced with the Treasury Laws Amendment (Registries Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill 2019, Business Names Registration (Fees) Amendment (Registries Modernisation) Bill 2019, Corporations (Fees) Amendment (Registries Modernisation) Bill 2019 and National Consumer Credit Protection (Fees) Amendment (Registries Modernisation) Bill 2019 to create a new Commonwealth business registry regime, the bill: provides for the appointment, functions and powers of the registrar; and sets the framework for protecting and disclosing information held by the registrar.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/12/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 12/2/20
Senate:
- Introduced 13/2/20
- Passed 12/6/20
Assent: 22/6/20 (Act No. 65, 2020)
(Industry, Science, Energy and Resources portfolio)
Amends the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to enable regulations to prescribe processes which will be deemed to satisfy the definition of 'substantially transformed' for the purposes of the country of origin provisions.
Senate:
- Introduced 17/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 17/6/20
(Senator Hanson-Young â—¬— AG)
Amends the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to make it an offence to supply or offer commercial goods to a consumer that include Indigenous cultural expression unless supplied by, or in accordance with a transparent arrangement with, an Indigenous artist or relevant Indigenous community.
Senate:
- Introduced 12/2/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 12/2/19
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
- Bill referred to Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee 4/7/19 (SBC report 2/19); extensions of time to report 25/11/19, 8/4/20; report presented out of sitting 16/4/20
(Senator Xenophon â—¬— Nick Xenophon Team)
Amends the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to require the minister to make an information standard for goods containing palm oil and ensure that the information standard is in force at all times.
Senate:
- Introduced 21/6/17
- 2nd reading adjourned 21/6/17, 17/8/17
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
(Senator Griff â—¬— CA and Senator Patrick â—¬— Ind)
Subject to approval in accordance with section 128 of the Constitution, the bill proposes an alteration to the Constitution to provide that the Commonwealth, states and territories must not limit freedom of expression, including freedom of the press and other media.
Senate:
- Introduced 4/7/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 4/7/19
(Ms Sharkie MP â—¬— CA)
Subject to approval in accordance with section 128 of the Constitution, the bill proposes an alteration to the Constitution to provide that the Commonwealth, states and territories must not limit freedom of expression, including freedom of the press and other media.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 29/7/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 29/7/19
- Removed from Notice Paper 25/2/20
(Senator Patrick â—¬— Ind)
Subject to approval in accordance with section 128 of the Constitution, the bill proposes an alteration to the Constitution to: provide the Commonwealth with the power to make laws in relation to the use and management of water resources that extend beyond the limits of a state; and ensure that any Commonwealth law relating to water resources does not have an overall detrimental effect on the environment.
Senate:
- Introduced 4/7/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 4/7/19
- Bill referred to Senate Select Committee on the Multi-Jurisdictional Management and Execution of the Murray Darling Basin Plan 12/9/19 (SBC report 5/19); report due 1/11/20
(Ms Sharkie MP â—¬— CA)
Subject to approval in accordance with section 128 of the Constitution, the bill proposes an alteration to the Constitution to: provide the Commonwealth with the power to make laws in relation to the use and management of water resources that extend beyond the limits of a state; and ensure that any Commonwealth law relating to water resources does not have an overall detrimental effect on the environment.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 29/7/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 29/7/19
- Removed from Notice Paper 25/2/20
(Treasury portfolio)
Part of a package of eight bills to respond to the economic impacts of the coronavirus, the bill amends: the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 to: increase the cost threshold below which small business entities can access an immediate deduction for depreciating assets and certain related expenditure (instant asset write-off) from $30 000 to $150 000, from 12 March to 30 June 2020; and temporarily allow businesses with aggregated turnovers of less than $500 million in an income year to deduct capital allowances for depreciating assets at an accelerated rate; the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, Social Security Act 1991, Taxation Administration Act 1953 and Veteransâ—¬—¢ Entitlements Act 1986 to make amendments consequential on the cash flow boost payments; six Acts to provide for two rounds of economic support payments of $750 to certain income support and compensation recipients and holders of qualifying concession cards; Biosecurity Act 2015 to enable the Director of Human Biosecurity to delegate their functions or powers in relation to human biosecurity control orders; Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Regulations 2019 to waive the environmental management charge from 1 April to 31 December 2020; the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997 to: implement measures to assist employers to retain apprentices and traineeships; and provide financial assistance to participants in the Australian aviation sector; the Corporations Act 2001 to provide short-term regulatory relief to classes of person who are unable to meet their obligations under the Act or the regulations; the A New Tax (Family Assistance) Act 1999 and A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 to: allocate extra allowable absence days for child care; and waive the current obligation of services duty to enforce payment of gaps fees for a particular event or circumstance; Retirement Savings Accounts Regulations 1997 and Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulation 1994 to reduce the minimum payment amounts for account based, allocated and market linked pensions by half for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 financial years; the Social Security Act 1991 to: expand eligibility for the youth allowance (other) and jobseeker payments; provide for the payment of a $550 coronavirus supplement to youth allowance (other) and jobseeker recipients and certain other income support recipients; and exempt recipients from certain waiting periods; the Farm Household Support Act 2014 to apply the coronavirus supplement and waiting period exemptions to recipients of the Farm Household Allowance; the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Simplifying Income Reporting and Other Measures) Act 2020 to delay the commencement of the Act; the Bankruptcy Act 1966 and Bankruptcy Regulations 1996 to provide temporary relief for individuals at risk of bankruptcy; the Corporations Act 2001 and Corporations Regulations 2001 to provide temporary relief for business at risk of insolvency; the Corporations Act 2001 to provide temporary relief for directors from their personal duty to prevent insolvency trading; the Retirement Savings Accounts Regulations 1997 and Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 to enable individuals to access up to $10 000 from their superannuation or retirement savings account in the 2019-20 financial year, and up to a further $10 000 in the 2020-21 financial year; the Income Tax (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 to provide that any superannuation lump sum amounts released to an individual in the previous circumstances are non-assessable non-exempt income; the A New Tax System (Medicare Levy Surchargeâ—¬—Fringe Benefits) Act 1999 and Medicare Levy Act 1986 to: increase the Medicare levy and Medicare levy surcharge low-income threshold amounts for individuals, families and individual taxpayers and families eligible for the seniors and pensioners tax offset; and increase the phase-in limits as a result of the increased threshold amounts; and the Charter of Budget Honesty Act 1998 to delay the next intergenerational report from 2020 to mid-2021. Also grants a minister the power to determine a new sunset day for legislation that is due to sunset on or before 15 October 2020.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 1 Opp/negatived; 2 Opp to Opp/negatived
- Consideration in detail amendments: 11 Govt/passed; 5 Opp/negatived
- Passed 23/3/20
Senate:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 3 Opp/agreed to; 1 AG/agreed to; 3 AG/negatived
- Committee amendments: 1 Govt/passed; 3 AG/negatived
- Committee requests for amendments: 13 AG/negatived
- Passed 23/3/20
House of Representatives:
- House of Representatives agreed to Senate amendment 23/3/20
Assent: 24/3/20 (Act No. 22, 2020)
(Treasury portfolio)
Introduced with the Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Bill 2020, Appropriation Bill (No. 5) 2019-2020 and Appropriation Bill (No. 6) 2019-2020 to respond to the economic impacts of the coronavirus, the bill amends: the Fair Work Act 2009 to temporarily enable employers to issue JobKeeper enabling directions; eight Acts to makes amendments consequential on the Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Act 2020; the Guarantee of Lending to Small and Medium Enterprises (Coronavirus Economic Response Package) Act 2020 to ensure that certain categories of smaller non-authorised deposit-taking institutions will fall within the definition of â—¬Ëfinancial institutionâ—¬—¢; the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 to: modify how child care subsidy (CCS) entitlements are reviewed when an individual, who is a member of a couple for some but not all of the CCS fortnights in an income year, meets the CCS reconciliation conditions; and provide that payments of Additional Child Care Subsidy and funding agreements for certain grant programs occur under the existing standing appropriation; and the Taxation Administration Act 1953 to allow, until 30 June 2023, the disclosure of de-identified protected information to the Treasury for the purposes of policy development and analysis in relation to the coronavirus. Also: provides a temporary mechanism for ministers to change arrangements for meeting information and documentary requirements under Commonwealth legislation; and allows the Veteransâ—¬—¢ Minister to: increase, by legislative instrument, the amount paid to a person receiving a payment under the veteransâ—¬—¢ law by the amount of the coronavirus supplement, and vary the qualifications and eligibility for payments by legislative instrument.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 8/4/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 1 Opp/negatived; 8 Opp to Opp/negatived
- Passed 8/4/20
Senate:
- Introduced 8/4/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 1 Opp/passed; 3 Opp/negatived; 3 AG/negatived
- Committee amendments: 2 AG/negatived
- Committee requests for amendments: 4 AG/negatived
- Passed 8/4/20
Assent: 9/4/20 (Act No. 38, 2020)
(Treasury portfolio)
Introduced with the Coronavirus Economic Response Package Omnibus (Measures No. 2) Bill 2020, Appropriation Bill (No. 5) 2019-2020 and Appropriation Bill (No. 6) 2019-2020 to respond to the economic impacts of the coronavirus, the bill establishes a framework for the Treasurer to make rules which provide for the Commissioner of Taxation to make coronavirus economic response payments to eligible entities for the period from 1 March to 31 December 2020.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 8/4/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 1 Opp/negatived; 8 Opp to Opp/negatived
- Consideration in detail amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 8/4/20
Senate:
- Introduced 8/4/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 1 Opp/passed; 3 Opp/negatived; 3 AG/negatived
- Committee amendments: 7 AG/negatived
- Committee requests for amendments: 3 AG/negatived; 2 CA/negatived
- Passed 8/4/20
Assent: 9/4/20 (Act No. 37, 2020)
(Senator Waters â—¬— AG)
The bill: creates the Coronavirus Economic Support and Recovery Fund to invest in the arts and entertainment, manufacturing, and the renewable energy and electricity transmission sectors; amends the: Social Security Act 1991 to expand eligibility for the COVID-19 supplement to recipients of the disability support payment and carer payment; Social Security Act 1991 and Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 to expand eligibility of the JobSeeker payment to Australian resident temporary visa holders; and Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Act 2020 to establish rules for the JobKeeper scheme to: extend potential eligibility for the scheme to all casual employees, regardless of their period of employment, temporary visa holders, and intermittent workers with a demonstrated income history; include certain entities owned by overseas governments as eligible employers, and higher education providers as eligible employers; and enable prompt back payment of newly eligible employees and employers.
Senate:
- Introduced 11/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 11/6/20
(Act citation: Corporations (Fees) Amendment (Registries Modernisation) Act 2020)
(Treasury portfolio)
Introduced with the Commonwealth Registers Bill 2019, Treasury Laws Amendment (Registries Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill 2019, Business Names Registration (Fees) Amendment (Registries Modernisation) Bill 2019 and National Consumer Credit Protection (Fees) Amendment (Registries Modernisation) Bill 2019 to create a new Commonwealth business registry regime, the bill amends the Corporations (Fees) Act 2001 to allow the registrar to collect fees related to the performance of registry functions or the exercise of a registry power.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/12/19
- Passed 12/2/20
Senate:
- Introduced 13/2/20
- Passed 12/6/20
Assent: 22/6/20 (Act No. 67, 2020)
(Ms Sharkie MP â—¬— CA)
Amends the Crimes Act 1914 and Criminal Code Act 1995 to increase the minimum age of criminal responsibility for Commonwealth offences from 10 years of age to 14 years of age.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 14/10/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 14/10/19
(Attorney-General's portfolio)
Amends: the Criminal Code Act 1995 to: amend the offence of bribery of a foreign public official to extend the definition of foreign public official to include a candidate for office, remove the requirement that the foreign official must be influenced in the exercise of the official's duties, replace the requirement that a benefit and business advantage must be 'not legitimately due' with the concept of 'improperly influencing' a foreign public official, and extend the offence to cover bribery to obtain a personal advantage; and create a new offence of failure of a body corporate to prevent foreign bribery by an associate; the Director of Public Prosecutions Act 1983 to implement a Commonwealth Deferred Prosecution Agreement scheme to enable the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions to invite a person that has engaged in serious corporate crime to negotiate an agreement to comply with a range of specified conditions; and five Acts to make consequential amendments.
Senate:
- Introduced 2/12/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 2/12/19
- Bill referred to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee 5/12/19 (SBC report 10/19); extension of time to report 10/2/20; report presented out of sitting 17/3/20
(Act citation: Crimes Legislation Amendment (Sexual Crimes Against Children and Community Protection Measures) Act 2020)
(Attorney-Generalâ—¬—¢s portfolio)
Amends the: Crimes Act 1914 to: insert community safety as a factor that can be taken into account to revoke the parole of a federal offender without notice; remove the requirement to seek leave before a recorded interview of a vulnerable witness can be admitted as evidence in chief; remove the requirement for vulnerable witnesses to be available to give evidence at committal proceedings; introduce mandatory minimum penalties for certain Commonwealth child sex offences and offenders; require a court to state and record the reasons for granting bail; insert a presumption against bail for certain Commonwealth child sex offenders; insert additional factors which must be taken into account when sentencing federal offenders; require the court to have regard to certain rehabilitation considerations when sentencing Commonwealth child sex offenders; insert presumptions in favour of cumulative sentences and actual terms of imprisonment for Commonwealth child sex offenders; impose certain requirements on Commonwealth child sex offenders under a recognizance release order; add 'residential treatment orders' as a sentencing alternative for intellectually disabled offenders; reduce the amount of 'clean street time' that can be credited against the outstanding sentence following commission of an offence by a person on parole and licence; require a period of time to be served in custody if a federal offender's parole order is revoked; and make amendments contingent on the commencement of the Combatting Child Sexual Exploitation Legislation Amendment Act 2019 and Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment (2019 Measures No. 1) Act 2019; Criminal Code Act 1995 to: clarify the scope of the definition of 'engage in sexual activity'; insert a range of new aggravated offences for child sexual abuse; insert new offences relating to 'grooming' and the provision of electronic services to facilitate dealings with child abuse material online; increase the maximum penalties for certain Commonwealth child sex offences and breaches of reporting requirements; insert new additional factors for mandatory consideration at sentencing; and make amendments contingent on the commencement of the Combatting Child Sexual Exploitation Legislation Amendment Act 2019.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 11/9/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 15/10/19
Senate:
- Provisions of bill referred to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee 12/9/19 (SBC report 5/19); report presented out of sitting 7/11/19
- Introduced 17/10/19
- Committee amendments: 2 Govt/passed; 1 Opp/passed; 4 AG/negatived
- Passed 15/6/20
House of Representatives:
- House of Representatives agreed to Senate amendments nos 1 and 3 and disagreed to amendment no. 2, 16/6/20
Senate:
- Senate did not insist on its amendment no. 2, 16/6/20
Assent: 22/6/20 (Act No. 70, 2020)
(Treasury portfolio)
Introduces offences for entities that make or accept cash payments of $10 000 or more.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 19/9/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 24/10/19
Senate:
- Provisions of bill referred to Senate Economics Legislation Committee 19/9/19 (SBC report 6/19); extension of time to report 6/2/20; report presented out of sitting 28/2/20
- Introduced 11/11/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 11/11/19
(Home Affairs portfolio)
Amends the Customs Act 1901 to streamline the way in which product specific rules of origin of the Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement, Australia-New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Agreement, Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement, Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement, Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement and Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement are given effect domestically.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 12/9/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 24/10/19
Senate:
- Provisions of bill referred to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee 19/9/19 (SBC report 6/19); report presented out of sitting 20/11/19
- Introduced 11/11/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 11/11/19
(Senator Patrick â—¬— Ind)
Amends the Customs Act 1901 to prohibit the importation of polyethylene core aluminium composite panels.
Senate:
- Introduced 10/9/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 10/9/19, 19/9/19
(Agriculture, Water and the Environment portfolio)
Introduced with the Excise Levies Legislation Amendment (Sheep and Lamb) Bill 2020, the bill amends the National Residue Survey (Customs) Levy Act 1998 and Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Act 1999 to align the definition of 'lamb' for the purposes of imposing certain levies and charges that are duties of customs with the definition used for export and industry purposes.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 17/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 17/6/20
(Defence portfolio)
Amends the: Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme Act 2008 to extend the period after a member leaves the Australian Defence Force (ADF) within which they can access the Defence Home Ownership Assistance Scheme, from two to five years; Australian Defence Force Superannuation Act 2015 to enable former ADF members, who have provided at least 12 months of service, to continue to make contributions to their ADF Super accounts; and Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 to require ADF Super to obtain relevant insurance products for ADF Super members who are no longer serving in the ADF.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/2/20
- Passed 14/5/20
Senate:
- Introduced 14/5/20
- Passed 14/5/20
Assent: 25/5/20 (Act No. 45, 2020)
(Senator Di Natale â—¬— AG)
Amends the: Sex Discrimination Act 1984 to remove the exemption for religious educational institutions to discriminate against students and teachers on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, gender identification, marital or relationship status or pregnancy; and Fair Work Act 2009 to ensure that religious exemptions from anti-discrimination provisions do not extend to educational institutions.
Senate:
- Introduced 16/10/18
- 2nd reading adjourned 16/10/18, 17/10/18, 18/10/18
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
(Education, Skills and Employment portfolio)
Amends the Higher Education Support Act 2003 to: require students commencing from 1 January 2021, and all students from 1 January 2023, to have a unique student identifier (USI) in order to be eligible for Commonwealth assistance; provide that a student's HELP balances is taken to be reduced immediately after the census date for HECS-HELP, FEE-HELP, VET FEE-HELP assistance, and immediately after the census day for vocational education and training (VET) student loans; provide undergraduate students seeking FEE-HELP loans with an exemption from the requirement to pay the 25 per cent loan fee for units of study with census dates from 1 April to 30 September 2020; and make minor and technical amendments; and VET Student Loans Act 2016 to require that all applications for VET student loans made on or after 1 January 2021 must include the student's USI. Also validates certain HELP loans and VET student loans by enabling the secretary to determine certain students who, due to having more than one Commonwealth Higher Education Student Support Number, have exceeded the HELP loan limit, and allow these students to repay the resulting excess debt amounts through the taxation system.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 11/6/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 17/6/20
Senate:
- Introduced 18/6/20
- Passed 18/6/20
Assent: 19/6/20 (Act No. 62, 2020)
(Finance portfolio)
Amends the: Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 to: clarify the interaction between federal, state and territory electoral funding and disclosure regimes following the High Court decision in Spence v Queensland [2019] HCA 15; make technical amendments in relation to entity registration and public election funding rules; and allow a senior Australian Electoral Commission staff member rather than a senior Divisional Returning Officer to be on the Redistribution Committee for the Australian Capital Territory; Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 and Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 to amend various aspects of voting and scrutiny processes; and Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 to extend the electronically assisted voting method to Australians working in Antarctica.
Senate:
- Introduced 11/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 11/6/20
- Bill referred to Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters 17/6/20
(Senator Waters â—¬— AG)
Amends the: Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to impose additional obligations on the minister in making decisions on approvals and conditions; and Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility Act 2016 to: require the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility to assess whether an entity is a suitable person for the purposes of providing financial assistance for Northern Australia economic infrastructure; and provide that, in undertaking an assessment, the facility consults with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Australian Crime Commission. Also provides for a review of certain existing approvals under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 in relation to the Adani group.
Senate:
- Introduced 13/6/17
- 2nd reading adjourned 13/6/17, 15/6/17, 19/10/17
- Bill referred to Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee 22/6/17 (SBC report 7/17); report tabled 14/9/17
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
(Senator Hanson-Young â—¬— AG)
Amends the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to introduce penalties for an individual or body corporate undertaking actions which involve mining operations, drilling exploration, land clearing or is specified in the regulations (emissions-intensive actions) if the action has, will have or is likely to have a significant impact on the environment.
Senate:
- Introduced 13/2/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 13/2/20, 24/2/20
- Bill referred to Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee 27/2/20 (SBC report 3/20); extension of time to report 8/4/20;report due second sitting Wednesday of 2021
(Ms Sharkie MP â—¬— CA)
Amends the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to grant National Heritage status to the Great Australian Bight.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 22/7/19
- Removed from Notice Paper 11/2/20
(Agriculture, Water and the Environment portfolio)
Introduced with the Customs Charges and Levies Legislation Amendment (Sheep and Lamb) Bill 2020, the bill amends the National Residue Survey (Customs) Levy Act 1998 and Primary Industries (Customs) Charges Act 1999 to align the definition of 'lamb' for the purposes of imposing certain levies and charges that are duties of excise with the definition used for export and industry purposes.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 17/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 17/6/20
(Treasury portfolio)
Introduced with the Product Stewardship (Oil) Amendment Bill 2020 in response to the Federal Court's decision in Caltex Australia Petroleum Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation [2019] FCA 1849, the bill amends the Excise Tariff Act 1921 to narrow the scope of petroleum-based oils and synthetic equivalents for which excise duties are imposed for the purposes of the Product Stewardship for Oil Scheme to exclude diesel and other fuels.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 14/5/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 14/5/20
Senate:
(Act citation: Export Charges (Impositionâ—¬—Customs) Amendment Act 2020)
(Agriculture portfolio)
Introduced with the Export Charges (Impositionâ—¬—Excise) Amendment Bill 2019 and Export Charges (Impositionâ—¬—General) Amendment Bill 2019, the bill amends the Export Charges (Impositionâ—¬—Customs) Act 2015 to make amendments consequential on the enactment of the Export Control Bill 2019 and the proposed repeal of the Export Charges (Collection) Act 2015.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/12/19
- Passed 12/2/20
Senate:
Assent: 6/3/20 (Act No. 14, 2020)
(Act citation: Export Charges (Impositionâ—¬—Excise) Amendment Act 2020)
(Agriculture portfolio)
Introduced with the Export Charges (Impositionâ—¬—Customs) Amendment Bill 2019 and Export Charges (Impositionâ—¬—General) Amendment Bill 2019, the bill amends the Export Charges (Impositionâ—¬—Excise) Act 2015 to make amendments consequential on the enactment of the Export Control Bill 2019 and the proposed repeal of the Export Charges (Collection) Act 2015.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/12/19
- Passed 12/2/20
Senate:
Assent: 6/3/20 (Act No. 15, 2020)
(Act citation: Export Charges (Impositionâ—¬—General) Amendment Act 2020)
(Agriculture portfolio)
Introduced with the Export Charges (Impositionâ—¬—Customs) Amendment Bill 2019 and Export Charges (Impositionâ—¬—Excise) Amendment Bill 2019, the bill amends the Export Charges (Impositionâ—¬—General) Act 2015 to make amendments consequential on the enactment of the Export Control Bill 2019 and the proposed repeal of the Export Charges (Collection) Act 2015.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/12/19
- Passed 12/2/20
Senate:
Assent: 6/3/20 (Act No. 16, 2020)
(Act citation: Export Control Act 2020)
(Agriculture portfolio)
Introduced with the Export Control (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2019, the bill streamlines and consolidates existing legislation to create a new framework for regulating the export of goods, including agricultural products and food, from Australian territory.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/12/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 12/2/20
Senate:
Assent: 6/3/20 (Act No. 12, 2020)
(Act citation: Export Control (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Act 2020)
(Agriculture portfolio)
Introduced with the Export Control Bill 2019 to create a new framework for regulating the export of goods, including agricultural products and food, from Australian territory, the bill: repeals 17 Acts; makes consequential amendments to nine Acts; and provides for transitional arrangements.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/12/19
- Passed 12/2/20
Senate:
Assent: 6/3/20 (Act No. 13, 2020)
(Agriculture, Water and the Environment portfolio)
Amends the Export Control Act 1982 and Export Control Act 2020 to allow for the export of certain narcotic goods, such as medicinal cannabis and low-tetrahydrocannibinol hemp products.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/5/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 10/6/20
Senate:
- Introduced 10/6/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 17/6/20
Assent: 22/6/20 (Act No. 73, 2020)
(Senator Faruqi â—¬— AG)
Amends the Fair Work Act 2009 to: provide for 14 days paid COVID-19 leave for all workers, including part-time, casual and gig economy workers; and enable the Fair Work Commission to make COVID-19 leave orders to extend provisions in the Act to all workers, such as gig economy workers.
Senate:
- Introduced 12/5/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 12/5/20
(Mr Bandt MP â—¬— AG)
Amends the Fair Work Act 2009 to enable the Fair Work Commission to deal with disputes between employers and employees regarding the eligibility of an employee to receive the JobKeeper payment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 15/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 15/6/20
(Senator Faruqi â—¬— AG)
Amends the Fair Work Act 2009 to enable the Fair Work Commission to deal with disputes between employers and employees regarding the eligibility of an employee to receive the JobKeeper payment during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Senate:
- Introduced 16/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 16/6/20
(Senator Cameron â—¬— ALP)
Amends the Fair Work Act 2009 to: provide that modern awards cannot be varied to reduce penalty rates or the hours to which penalties rates apply if the variation is likely to result in a reduction in the take-home pay of an employee; and provide that any such determination by the Fair Work Commission made on or after 21 June 2017 is of no effect.
Senate:
- Introduced 14/11/18
- 2nd reading adjourned 14/11/18
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 17/10/19
(Mr Bandt MP â—¬— AG)
Amends the Fair Work Act 2009 to: introduce a new category of 'protected climate change industrial action' to provide workers with an express right to take such action; allow employees and employers to include matters relating to climate change in their enterprise agreements; and permit employees to take 'protected industrial action', being action taken in support of securing an enterprise agreement, about such matters.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 16/9/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 16/9/19
(Industrial Relations portfolio)
Amends the: Fair Work Act 2009 to: prohibit terms of a modern award or an enterprise agreement requiring or permitting contributions for the benefit of an employee to be made to any fund other than a superannuation fund, a registered worker entitlement fund or a registered charity; require any term of a modern award or enterprise agreement that names a worker entitlement fund or insurance product to provide for an employee to choose another fund or insurance product; prohibit any term of a modern award, enterprise agreement or contract of employment permitting or requiring employee contributions to an election fund for an industrial association; and prohibit any action with the intent to coerce an employer to pay amounts to a particular worker entitlement fund, superannuation fund, training fund, welfare fund or employee insurance scheme; Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 to: require registered organisations to have written financial management policies that have been approved by the committee of management; require registered organisations to report certain loans, grants and donations; require specific disclosure by registered organisations of the financial benefits obtained by them and persons linked to them in connection with employee insurance products, welfare fund arrangements and training fund arrangements; introduce a range of new penalties relating to compliance by registered organisations with financial management, disclosure and reporting requirements; and make minor technical amendments; and Fringe Benefits Tax Assessment Act 1986, Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and Taxation Administration Act 1953 to make consequential amendments.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/7/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 10/9/19
Senate:
(Industrial Relations portfolio)
Amends the Fair Work (Registered Organisations) Act 2009 to: include certain serious criminal offences as a new category of 'prescribed offence' for the purposes of the automatic disqualification regime for registered organisations; establish an offence for a disqualified person to continue to act as an official or in a way that influences the affairs of an organisation; allow the Federal Court to disqualify officials from holding office in certain circumstances or if they are otherwise not a fit and proper person; allow the Federal Court to cancel the registration of an organisation and make alternative orders on a range of grounds; expand the grounds on which the Federal Court may order remedial action to deal with governance issues in an organisation; expressly provide that the Federal Court may appoint an administrator to an organisation or part of an organisation as part of a remedial scheme; introduce a public interest test for amalgamations of registered organisations where the Fair Work Commissioner has determined the test should apply; provide that the commissioner must prioritise matters that raise serious or systemic concerns in carrying out his or her functions; provide that the minister must cause an independent review of the amendments made by the bill as soon as practicable after the end of two years after the amendments commence; and make minor and technical amendments.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/12/19
- Passed 5/12/19
Senate:
- Introduced 5/12/19
- Discharged from Notice Paper 11/6/20
(Education portfolio)
Amends the: A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 and A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 to specify that a provider is eligible for Additional Child Care Subsidy (ACCS) (child wellbeing) in respect of certain prescribed classes of children, such as foster children; A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 to extend the backdating of ACCS (child wellbeing) certificates and determinations from the current period of 28 days to up to 13 weeks in prescribed exceptional circumstances; extend the period from 13 weeks to up to 12 months in which an ACCS (wellbeing) determination can be made for certain prescribed classes of children, such as children on a long term child protection order, including those in foster care; and A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 to: correct minor technical drafting errors; and modify how child care subsidy (CCS) entitlements are reviewed when an individual, who is a member of a couple for some but not all of the CCS fortnights in an income year, meets the CCS reconciliation conditions.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 26/2/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 26/2/20, 12/6/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/pending
(Mr Perrett MP â—¬— ALP)
Implements certain recommendations of the 2009 Family Law Council report 'Improving responses to family violence in the family law system: An advice on the intersection of family violence and family law issues', the 2017 House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs report 'A better family law system to support and protect those affected by family violence', and the 2019 Australian Law Reform Commission report 'Family Law for the Future â—¬— An Inquiry into the Family Law System' by amending the Family Law Act 1975 to remove provisions relating to the: presumption of equal shared parental responsibility when making parenting orders; and requirement that the courts consider, in certain circumstances, the child spending equal time, or substantial and significant time with each parent.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 15/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 15/6/20
(Attorney-General's portfolio)
Amends: the Family Law Act 1975 and Bankruptcy Act 1966 to: give effect to a referral of power from Western Australia to the Commonwealth in respect of superannuation matters in family law proceedings for separating de facto couples in Western Australia; extend federal bankruptcy jurisdiction to the Family Court of Western Australia to hear bankruptcy proceedings concurrently with family law proceedings; and provide for transitional arrangements; and 21 Acts to make consequential amendments.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 27/11/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 27/11/19
Senate:
(Senator Hanson â—¬— PHON)
Requires separating couples to self-assess and narrow their family law disputes promptly within a defined statutory time frame.
Senate:
- Introduced 12/9/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 12/9/19, 16/9/19
(Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management portfolio)
Amends the Farm Household Support Act 2014 to: remove the use of business income reconciliation for the purposes of determining a personâ—¬—¢s rate of farm household allowance; and remove the 28 day time limit for conducting a farm financial assessment.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/2/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 26/2/20
Senate:
- Introduced 26/2/20
- Passed 23/3/20
Assent: 26/3/20 (Act No. 35, 2020)
(Attorney-General's portfolio)
Introduced with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2019, the bill unifies the administrative structure of the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court of Australia to create the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, comprised of Division 1 (which will be a continuation of the Family Court) and Division 2 (which will be a continuation of the Federal Circuit Court).
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 5/12/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 5/12/19
Senate:
(Attorney-General's portfolio)
Introduced with the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Bill 2019, the bill amends: the Family Law Act 1975 and Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 to make consequential amendments to align these Acts with the operation of the newly created Federal Circuit and Family Court (FCFC); the proposed Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2019 to make an amendment consequential on the commencement of certain changes enacted by the Public Sector Superannuation Legislation Amendment Act 2018; five Acts in relation to making rules of court; 132 Acts to make further consequential amendments; and various Acts to make amendments contingent on the commencement of nine Acts. Also provides for transitional arrangements in relation to the judges and personnel of the FCFC, court administration and appeals; and repeals the Federal Circuit Court of Australia Act 1999.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 5/12/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 5/12/19
Senate:
(Act citation: Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Responseâ—¬—Protecting Consumers (2019 Measures)) Act 2020)
(Treasury portfolio)
Gives effect to certain recommendations of the Financial Services Royal Commission by amending the: Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (ASIC Act) and Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (IC Act) to enable the unfair contract terms regime under the ASIC Act to apply to insurance contracts covered by the IC Act; ASIC Act and Corporations Act 2001 to specify that the consumer protection provisions of the ASIC Act apply to funeral expenses policies; National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 and National Consumer Credit Protection (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Act 2009 to: require mortgage brokers to act in the best interests of consumers and give priority to consumers in certain circumstances where there is a conflict of interest; provide that mortgage brokers and mortgage intermediaries must not accept conflicted remuneration; prohibit employers, credit providers and mortgage intermediaries from giving conflicted remuneration to mortgage brokers or mortgage intermediaries; and enable the circumstances in which the prohibition on conflicted remuneration applies to be prescribed by regulation; and National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 to make consequential amendments.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 28/11/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 5/2/20
Senate:
- Introduced 5/2/20
- Passed 6/2/20
Assent: 17/2/20 (Act No. 2, 2020)
(Act citation: Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Responseâ—¬—Stronger Regulators (2019 Measures)) Act 2020)
(Treasury portfolio)
Gives effect to certain recommendations of the Financial Services Royal Commission by amending the: Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 (ASIC Act) and National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 to: relocate the existing search warrant powers of the Australian and Securities Investment Commission (ASIC) from across ASIC administered legislation into the ASIC Act; and enhance ASIC's existing search warrant powers by reference to the search warrant powers in the Crimes Act 1914; Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Act 1979 to allow ASIC to receive and use interception information for its own investigations and prosecutions of serious offences; Corporations Act 2001 to replace the requirement for obtaining an Australian financial services licence (AFS licence) that a person be of 'good fame and character' with the requirement that they be a 'fit and proper person'; National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 and National Consumer Credit Protection (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Act 2009 to: enable ASIC to cancel an AFS licence if the licensee does not start to provide the relevant financial services within six months after the licence is granted; clarify ASIC's power to suspend or cancel an Australian credit licence if the person does not engage, or ceases to engage, in credit activities; and require licensees to notify ASIC if they do not start to provide the financial services or engage in the credit activities covered by the licence within six months of it being granted; Corporations Act 2001 and National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 to strengthen and broadly align provisions relating to false or misleading statements; and Corporations Act 2001, National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 and National Consumer Credit Protection (Transitional and Consequential Provisions) Act 2009 to: expand the grounds on which ASIC can make a banning order against a person; and enable ASIC to make additional types of banning orders to prohibit a person from controlling or performing any or particular functions in relation to a financial services or credit business. Also amends seven Acts to make consequential amendments and provide for transitional arrangements.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 28/11/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 5/2/20
Senate:
- Introduced 5/2/20
- Passed 6/2/20
Assent: 17/2/20 (Act No. 3, 2020)
(Mr Katter MP â—¬— KAP)
Amends the Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Act 1975 to: prevent foreign persons or entities from acquiring more than 10 per cent or greater interest in Australian land, water or other assets that are of 'strategic economic importance' or 'strategic defensive importance' to Australia; and establish the Foreign Ownership Assessment Board.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 24/2/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 24/2/20
(Senator Patrick â—¬— Ind)
Amends the: Archives Act 1983 to require the reporting of external legal expenses incurred by the National Archives of Australia; Australian Information Commissioner Act 2010 to: ensure that the Information Commissioner holds specified qualifications; and require the separate appointment of the Australian Information Commissioner, the Privacy Commissioner and the Freedom of Information (FOI) Commissioner; and Freedom of Information Act 1982 to: enable the transfer of Information Commissioner reviewable decisions to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT); require the consistent application of exemptions by decision makers in the context of a review by the Information Commissioner; prevent the Information Commissioner from making FOI decisions if he or she does not hold specified qualifications; prevent agencies from publishing FOI information until at least 10 days after the applicant has received his or her copy of the information; and require the reporting of external legal expenses for each Information Commission or AAT FOI matter that has concluded.
Senate:
- Introduced 22/8/18
- 2nd reading adjourned 22/8/18
- Bill referred to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee 23/8/18 (SBC report 9/18); report presented out of sitting 30/11/18
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
(Senator Waters â—¬— AG)
Prohibits the mining of thermal coal in the Galilee Basin in Queensland.
Senate:
- Introduced 5/12/18
- 2nd reading adjourned 5/12/18
- Bill referred to Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee 6/12/18 (SBC report 15/18); report tabled 14/2/19
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 13/2/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 24/2/20
(Treasury portfolio)
Part of a package of seven bills to implement changes to the financial institution supervisory levy framework, the bill amends the General Insurance Supervisory Levy Imposition Act 1998 to: increase the statutory upper limit on the general insurance supervisory levy to $10 million for the financial year commencing on 1 July 2020; and amend the calculation of the indexation factor used to establish the statutory upper limits applying in later years.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/5/20
- Passed 12/6/20
Senate:
- Introduced 12/6/20
- Passed 18/6/20
Assent: 19/6/20 (Act No. 57, 2020)
(Senator Siewert â—¬— AG)
Amends the Governor-General Act 1974 to cease the payment of allowances to a former Governor-General, or a spouse of the former Governor-General, where they have engaged in serious misconduct.
Senate:
- Introduced 13/11/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 13/11/19
(Senator Hanson-Young â—¬— AG)
The bill: prohibits mining activities, including prospecting or exploring for minerals or other geological material, in the Great Australian Bight marine area; establishes civil penalties for mining in the Bight; and requires the minister to submit the Great Australian Bight for consideration as a World Heritage Site.
Senate:
- Introduced 25/7/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 25/7/19, 1/8/19
(Agriculture, Water and the Environment portfolio)
Amends the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 to waive the requirement for permission holders to remit the environmental management charge to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority for the period 1 January to 31 March 2020.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 14/5/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 15/6/20
Senate:
- Introduced 16/6/20
- Passed 18/6/20
Assent: 19/6/20 (Act No. 63, 2020)
(Mr Bandt MP â—¬— AG)
The bill: establishes Renew Australia as a statutory authority to oversee the transition of Australia's electricity system to one based on renewable energy by 2030 and provides for its functions and powers; establishes the Board of Renew Australia and provides for its functions, members and meetings; provides for the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer and staff, consultants and committees; provides for financial arrangements; and sets out a timetable for the phased closure of coal-fired power stations.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 10/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 10/6/20
(Treasury portfolio)
Part of a package of eight bills to respond to the economic impacts of the coronavirus, the bill appropriates the Consolidated Revenue Fund to enable the Commonwealth to grant guarantees to financial institutions in connection with loans made, or to be made, to small and medium enterprises.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 1 Opp/negatived; 2 Opp to Opp/negatived
- Passed 23/3/20
Senate:
- Introduced 23/3/20
- 2nd reading amendments: 3 Opp/agreed to; 1 AG/agreed to; 3 AG/negatived
- Committee amendment: 1 AG/negatived
- Passed 23/3/20
Assent: 24/3/20 (Act No. 29, 2020)
(Health portfolio)
Amends the Health Insurance Act 1973 to: continue the Office of the National Rural Health Commissioner beyond 1 July 2020; and amend the functions of the office.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 12/6/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 17/6/20
Senate:
- Introduced 18/6/20
- Passed 18/6/20
Assent: 25/6/20 (Act No. 74, 2020)
(Health portfolio)
Amends the Health Insurance Act 1973 to: simplify administrative processes for recognition as a specialist general practitioner (GP) for Medicare purposes; align Medicare eligibility for GPs with the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme registration requirements; and replace references to repealed legislation in relation to the definition of a quality assurance activity under the Qualified Privilege Scheme. Also repeals the Health Practitioner Regulation (Consequential Amendments) Act 2010.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 27/2/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 14/5/20
Senate:
- Introduced 14/5/20
- Passed 12/6/20
Assent: 16/6/20 (Act No. 50, 2020)
(Act citation: Higher Education Support (HELP Tuition Protection Levy) Act 2020)
(Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business portfolio)
Part of a package of three bills to implement a tuition protection model for students participating in the VET Student Loans program and for higher education students accessing FEE-HELP or HECS-HELP assistance at a private education provider or TAFE, the bill imposes the HELP tuition protection levy, specifies the amounts that are payable by providers, and prescribes the levy components and the manner in which, and by whom, they will be determined each year.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 18/9/19
- Passed 24/10/19
Senate:
- Provisions of bill referred to Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee 17/10/19 (SBC report 7/19); report presented out of sitting 22/11/19
- Introduced 11/11/19
- Committee requests for amendments: 4 Govt/passed
- Passed 5/2/20
House of Representatives:
- House of Representatives made Senate requests for amendments 5/12/19
Assent: 17/2/20 (Act No. 4, 2020)
(Senator Bernardi â—¬— Ind)
Amends the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 to: include a definition of 'Australian freedoms'; require the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights to explicitly consider 'Australian freedoms' in its examinations of legislation; and require statements of compatibility for bills and disallowable legislative instruments to provide certain information in relation to 'Australian freedoms'.
Senate:
- Introduced 23/7/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 23/7/19, 14/10/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 AG/pending
(Senator Hanson â—¬— PHON)
Amends the Human Services (Medicare) Act 1973 to require photographic identification on all Medicare cards to reduce fraudulent usage of Medicare cards.
Senate:
- Introduced 13/2/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 13/2/19
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 24/7/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 29/7/19
- Bill referred to Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee 1/8/19 (SBC report 4/19); extension of time to report 9/9/19; report tabled 17/10/19
(Home Affairs portfolio)
Pursuant to the objectives of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Identity Matching Services (IGA), agreed by COAG on 5 October 2017, the bill provides for the exchange of identity information between the Commonwealth, state and territory governments by enabling the Department of Home Affairs to collect, use and disclose identification information in order to operate the technical systems that will facilitate the identity-matching services envisaged by the IGA.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 31/7/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 31/7/19
- Bill referred to Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security 2/8/19; report tabled in House 24/10/19 and Senate 13/11/19
(Act citation: Intellectual Property Laws Amendment (Productivity Commission Response Part 2 and Other Measures) Act 2020)
(Industry, Innovation and Science portfolio)
Amends the Patents Act 1990 to: introduce an objects clause; phase out the innovation patent system; replace the 'reasonable requirements of the public' test in relation to applications for a compulsory licence with a public interest test; provide that only the patentee of a dependent patent can seek a compulsory licence over the use of the original patent; provide for 'omnibus claims' in patent specifications to be removed at stages of consideration subsequent to examination; clarify the Commissioner of Patents' power to redact sensitive information from patent documents; remove the requirement to file a certificate of verification for documents translated into English, unless required by the regulations; clarify that Crown use can be invoked for the provision of a service that any Commonwealth, state or territory government has the primary responsibility for providing or funding; require governments to seek negotiated outcomes with patent owners before invoking Crown use; and require ministerial authorisation for invoking Crown use if a negotiated outcome is unsuccessful or in emergency situations; Designs Act 2003 to modify provisions relating to Crown use consistently with the changes to the Patents Act 1990; and Patents Act 1990 and Trade Marks Act 1995 to enable the Patent Office and Trade Mark Office to keep and use their official seal in electronic form when supplying electronic certified copies of documents to customers.
Senate:
- Introduced 25/7/19
- Bill referred to Senate Economics Legislation Committee 1/8/19 (SBC report 4/19); report presented out of sitting 4/9/19; corrigendum presented out of sitting 10/10/19
- Committee amendments: 2 Opp/passed; 1 CA/negatived
- Passed 16/10/19
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 16/10/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 5/2/20
Assent: 26/2/20 (Act No. 9, 2020)
(Senator McAllister â—¬— ALP)
Amends: the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act 1986 and Intelligence Services Act 2001 to expand the oversight role of the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS) to the Australian Federal Police, Department of Immigration and Border Protection, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission and the Office of National Intelligence (ONI); the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor Act 2010 and Intelligence Services Act 2001 to enable the PJCIS to request briefings and reports from the Independent National Security Legislation Monitor; and the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security Act 1986 and Office of National Intelligence Act 2018 to require regular briefings to be given to the PJCIS by the IGIS and ONI.
Senate:
- Introduced 26/2/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 26/2/20
- Bill referred to Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee 27/2/20 (SBC report 3/20); extension of time to report 8/4/20; report due 14/10/20
(Senator Patrick â—¬— Ind)
Amends the Intelligence Services Act 2001 to expand the functions of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security to include reviewing the activities of Australia's national security and intelligence agencies, subject to certain exclusions.
Senate:
- Introduced 14/8/18
- 2nd reading adjourned 14/8/18
- Bill referred to Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee 23/8/18 (SBC report 9/18); report tabled 12/11/18
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
(Mr Wilkie MP â—¬— Ind)
Amends the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 to: restrict the provision of prohibited interactive gambling and social casino services to Australian customers; create a criminal offence and civil liability for any persons who provides these services; and enable the Australian Communications and Media Authority to apply to the Federal Court of Australia for injunctions against carriage service providers to block domain names, URLs and IP addresses of online locations which provide prohibited interactive gambling and social casino services to Australian customers.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 10/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 10/6/20
- Bill referred to House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs 11/6/20 (SC report no. 16)
(Senator Waters â—¬— AG)
The bill: provides that Australian landholders have the right to refuse the undertaking of gas and coal mining activities by corporations on their land without prior written authorisation; sets out the requirements of a prior written authorisation; provides for relief which a court may grant a land owner when prior written authorisation is not provided; prohibits hydraulic fracturing for coal seam gas, shale gas and tight gas by corporations; and provides for civil penalties.
Senate:
- Introduced 4/3/15
- 2nd reading adjourned 4/3/15
- Bill referred to Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee 5/3/15 (SBC report 2/15); report presented out of sitting 30/9/15
- Lapsed due to prorogation of first session of 44th Parliament 17/4/16
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 19/4/16
- Lapsed due to dissolution of 44th Parliament 9/5/16
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 31/8/16
- 2nd reading adjourned 24/11/16
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 31/7/19
(Mr Bandt MP â—¬— AG)
Provides that fossil fuel companies are liable for climate change damage in proportion to their greenhouse gas emissions; and enables certain persons, including those impacted by climate change, to bring legal actions against major greenhouse gas emitters for damage caused by climate change.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 24/2/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 24/2/20
(Treasury portfolio)
Part of a package of seven bills to implement changes to the financial institution supervisory levy framework, the bill amends the Life Insurance Supervisory Levy Imposition Act 1998 to: increase the statutory upper limit on the life insurance supervisory levy to $10 million for the financial year commencing on 1 July 2020; and amend the calculation of the indexation factor used to establish the statutory upper limits applying in later years.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/5/20
- Passed 12/6/20
Senate:
- Introduced 12/6/20
- Passed 18/6/20
Assent: 19/6/20 (Act No. 58, 2020)
(Mr Wilkie MP â—¬— Ind)
Amends the Australian Meat and Livestock Industry Act 1997 and Export Control Act 1982 to: permanently ban from 1 July 2022 the export of live animals for slaughter; and establish interim requirements to ensure that animals are treated humanely after being exported.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 2/12/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 2/12/19
(Senator Faruqi â—¬— AG)
Amends the Export Control Act 1982 to prohibit the export of live-stock for slaughter.
Senate:
- Introduced 4/7/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 4/7/19
(Ms Sharkie MP â—¬— CA)
Amends the Australian Meat and Live-stock Industry Act 1997 and Export Control Act 1982 to restrict the long haul export of live sheep and lambs during the northern hemisphere summer months of June, July, August or September in a five year transitional period, or at any time after that period, where the voyage is by ship and of duration exceeding 10 days, and where a place in that voyage is either the Persian Gulf or the Red Sea (regardless of whether it is the final destination).
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 22/7/19
- Removed from Notice Paper 11/2/20
(Senator Sterle â—¬— ALP)
Amends the Marine Safety (Domestic Commercial Vessel) National Law Act 2012 to require masters of certain vessels to conduct two headcounts of passengers, one at the start of a voyage and one at the end.
Senate:
- Introduced 5/12/19
- Passed 10/2/20
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 11/2/20
- Read a 1st time 11/2/20
(Act citation: Migration Agents Registration Application Charge Amendment (Rates of Charge) Act 2020)
(Home Affairs portfolio)
Introduced with the Migration Amendment (Regulation of Migration Agents) Bill 2019, the bill amends the Migration Agents Registration Application Charge Act 1997 to provide that a person who paid the non-commercial application charge in relation to their current period of registration, but gives immigration assistance otherwise than on a non-commercial basis, is liable to pay an adjusted charge.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 27/11/19
- Passed 12/2/20
Senate:
Assent: 22/6/20 (Act No. 72, 2020)
(Home Affairs portfolio)
Amends the Migration Act 1958 to: enable the minister to determine, by legislative instrument, prohibited things in relation to immigration detention facilities and detainees; enable authorised officers and assistants to search Commonwealth immigration detention facilities without a warrant; strengthen the search and seizure and screening powers of authorised officers; and enable the minister to issue binding written directions to authorised officers in relation to the exercise of their seizure powers.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 14/5/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 14/5/20
Senate:
(Act citation: Migration Amendment (Regulation of Migration Agents) Act 2020)
(Home Affairs portfolio)
Introduced with the Migration Agents Registration Application Charge Amendment (Rates of Charge) Bill 2019, the bill amends the Migration Act 1958 to: remove unrestricted legal practitioners from the regulatory scheme that governs migration agents; allow eligible restricted legal practitioners to be both registered migration agents and restricted legal practitioners for a period of up to two years; enable the time period in which a person can be considered an applicant for repeat registration as a migration agent to be specified in delegated legislation; remove the 12-month time limit within which a person must apply for registration following completion of a prescribed course; clarify that the powers under Part 3 of the Act are exercisable by the minister; enable the Migration Agents Registration Authority (MARA) to refuse an application to become a registered migration agent where an applicant has failed to provide information or answer questions in relation to their application; require registered migration agents to notify MARA if they have paid the non-commercial application charge for their current period of registration but give immigration assistance otherwise than on a non-commercial basis; and provide that the definitions of 'immigration assistance' and 'makes immigration representations' include assisting a person in relation to a request to the minister to exercise his or her power under the Act to revoke a character-related visa refusal or cancellation decision.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 27/11/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 12/2/20
Senate:
- Provisions of bill referred to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee 28/11/19 (SBC report 9/19); report tabled 27/2/20
- Introduced 13/2/20
- Committee amendments: 2 AG/negatived
- Passed 15/6/20
Assent: 22/6/20 (Act No. 71, 2020)
(Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs portfolio)
Amends the Migration Act 1958 to: enable the minister to specify groups of applicants who are required to provide one or more personal identifiers to have a valid visa application; render a visa application invalid if the applicant is required to provide one or more personal identifiers but does not provide them; and enable personal identifiers to be provided either by way of an identification test, or by another way specified by the minister.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/7/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 11/9/19
Senate:
- Introduced 11/9/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 11/9/19
(Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs portfolio)
Amends the Migration Act 1958 to: amend the character test by providing grounds to consider visa cancellation or refusal where a non-citizen has been convicted of offences involving violence against a person, weapons, breaching of an apprehended violence order (or similar) or non-consensual sexual acts; and make consequential amendments.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/7/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 19/9/19
Senate:
(Home Affairs portfolio)
Amends the Migration Act 1958 and Migration Regulations 1994 to: prevent unauthorised maritime arrivals or transitory persons (referred to as members of the designated regional processing cohort) who were at least 18 years of age and were taken to a regional processing country after 19 July 2013 from making a valid application for an Australian visa; enable the minister to permit a member of the designated regional processing cohort, or a class of persons within the designated regional processing cohort, to make a valid application for a visa if the minister thinks it is in the public interest to do so; and prevent a member of the designated regional processing cohort from being deemed to have been granted a special purpose visa or being deemed to have applied for particular visas under the Migration Regulations 1994.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/7/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 4/7/19
Senate:
(Senator Patrick â—¬— Ind)
Requires the Prime Minister to direct the Director-General of Security to provide a report on matters relating to security arising from examination of the personal background and circumstances of all current and future ministers of state.
Senate:
- Introduced 12/2/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 12/2/19
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
- Bill referred to Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee 4/7/19 (SBC report 2/19); report tabled 11/11/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 29/7/19
(Senator Hanson-Young â—¬— AG)
Establishes a commission of inquiry, with the same powers as a royal commission, to inquire into the management of the Murray-Darling Basin water resources and related matters.
Senate:
- Introduced 13/2/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 13/2/19
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
- Bill referred to Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee 4/7/19 (SBC report 2/19); report tabled 19/9/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 22/7/19
(Treasury portfolio)
Amends the: National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 to: establish a mandatory comprehensive credit reporting regime to apply from 1 April 2020; provide that a credit provider cannot refuse to provide further credit or reduce a customer's credit limit merely because financial hardship information exists; and provide for transitional arrangements; and Privacy Act 1988 to: permit reporting of financial hardship information within the credit reporting system; require the Attorney-General to cause an independent review and report of the credit reporting system before 1 October 2023; and make a number of minor amendments relating to the administration of credit reporting.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 5/12/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 CA/negatived
- Passed 5/2/20
Senate:
- Introduced 5/2/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 5/2/20
(Ms Sharkie MP â—¬— CA)
Amends the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 to: impose a cap on the total payments that can be made under a consumer lease (known as rent-to-buy schemes); require small amount credit contracts (SACCs) (known as payday loans) to have equal repayment and payment intervals; remove the ability for SACC providers to charge monthly fees in respect of the residual term of a loan where a consumer fully repays the loan early; prevent lessors and credit assistance providers from undertaking door-to-door selling of leases at residential homes; introduce anti-avoidance protections; and increase penalties.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 16/9/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 16/9/19
(Senator Griff â—¬— CA and Senator McAllister â—¬— ALP)
Amends the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 to: impose a cap on the total payments that can be made under a consumer lease (known as rent-to-buy schemes); require small amount credit contracts (SACCs) (known as payday loans) to have equal repayment and payment intervals; remove the ability for SACC providers to charge monthly fees in respect of the residual term of a loan where a consumer fully repays the loan early; prevent lessors and credit assistance providers from undertaking door-to-door selling of leases at residential homes; introduce anti-avoidance protections; and increase penalties.
Senate:
- Introduced 2/12/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 2/12/19
- Bill referred to Senate Economics Legislation Committee 5/12/19 (SBC report 10/19); extension of time to report 8/4/20; report due 21/9/20
(Act citation: National Consumer Credit Protection (Fees) Amendment (Registries Modernisation) Act 2020)
(Treasury portfolio)
Introduced with the Commonwealth Registers Bill 2019, Treasury Laws Amendment (Registries Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill 2019, Business Names Registration (Fees) Amendment (Registries Modernisation) Bill 2019 and Corporations (Fees) Amendment (Registries Modernisation) Bill 2019 to create a new Commonwealth business registry regime, the bill amends the National Consumer Credit Protection (Fees) Act 2009 to allow the registrar to collect fees related to the performance of registry functions or the exercise of a registry power.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/12/19
- Passed 12/2/20
Senate:
- Introduced 13/2/20
- Passed 12/6/20
Assent: 22/6/20 (Act No. 68, 2020)
(National Disability Insurance Scheme portfolio)
Amends the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 to: broaden the circumstances in which the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commissioner may make a banning order against a National Disability Insurance Scheme provider or other person; and clarifies the commissioner's related powers.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 12/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 12/6/20
(Mr Wilkie MP â—¬— Ind)
Amends the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 to: amend the reporting requirements of greenhouse gas emissions to include scope 3 emissions (which are indirect greenhouse gas emissions arising as a consequence of the activities of a facility); and require the minister to table Australia's national greenhouse gas inventory estimates in Parliament every 3 months.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 24/2/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 24/2/20
- Bill referred to House of Representatives Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy 27/2/20 (SC report no. 13)
(Senator Waters â—¬— AG)
The bill: establishes the Australian National Integrity Commission as an independent public sector anti-corruption commission for the Commonwealth; provides for the appointment, functions and powers of the National Integrity Commissioner and commissioners; and makes consequential amendments to the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006, Ombudsman Act 1976 and Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013.
Senate:
- Introduced 29/11/18
- Bill referred to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee 6/12/18 (SBC report 15/18); report presented out of sitting 5/4/19
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 1/8/19
- Passed 9/9/19
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 10/9/19
- Read a 1st time 10/9/19
(Mr Bandt MP â—¬— AG)
The bill: establishes the Australian National Integrity Commission as an independent public sector anti-corruption commission for the Commonwealth; provides for the appointment, functions and powers of the National Integrity Commissioner and commissioners; and makes consequential amendments to the Law Enforcement Integrity Commissioner Act 2006, Ombudsman Act 1976 and Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 9/9/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 9/9/19
- Removed from Notice Paper 3/3/20
(Senator Waters â—¬— AG)
The bill: provides for statutory codes of conduct for the members of each house of parliament and their staff; creates a statutory basis for parliamentarians' registers of interests; establishes a Parliamentary Integrity Advisor to provide independent, confidential advice and guidance to parliamentarians and their staff in relation to the applicable codes of conduct; and establishes a Parliamentary Standards Commissioner to assist in the assessment, investigation and resolution of alleged breaches of the applicable codes of conduct.
Senate:
- Introduced 17/10/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 17/10/19
- Bill referred to Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee 5/12/19 (SBC report 10/19); extension of time to report 8/4/20; report presented out of sitting 12/8/20
(Industry, Science, Energy and Resources portfolio)
Establishes a National Radioactive Waste Management Facility to permanently dispose of low level radioactive waste and temporarily store intermediate level radioactive waste by amending the National Radioactive Waste Management Act 2012 to: specify the site selected and enable the acquisition of additional land for the facility; abolish the National Repository Capital Contribution Fund and establish a Community Fund to provide economic and social sustainability for the community in which the facility will be located; and provide clear and objective links between the operation of the Act and the relevant Constitutional heads of power.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/2/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Consideration in detail amendments: 3 Govt/passed
- Passed 11/6/20
Senate:
(Education, Skills and Employment portfolio)
Establishes the office of the National Skills Commissioner to provide advice and collect, analyse, share and publish data on Australiaâ—¬—¢s workforce skills needs, efficient prices for vocational education and training (VET) courses, the public and private return on government investment in VET and other matters relating to the VET system.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 14/5/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Consideration in detail amendments: 3 Ind (Haines)/negatived
- Passed 10/6/20
Senate:
- Introduced 11/6/20
- Committee amendments: 3 Govt/passed; 1 Opp/negatived; 1 AG/negatived; 3 AG/withdrawn
- Passed 18/6/20
(Act citation: National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Amendment Act 2020)
(Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business portfolio)
Amends the: National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 in relation to: registration requirements, conditions and decision timings relating to National VET Regulator (NVR) registered training organisations (NVR RTOs); notification requirements for NVR RTOs in relation to changes to the operation of an NVR RTO or events likely to significantly affect an NVR RTO's ability to comply with the VET Quality Framework; reviewable decisions made by the delegate of the NVR; compliance standards and conditions for accredited courses; preparation and publication of audit reports by the NVR; electronic sharing and publication of information authorised by the NVR; information that the NVR is required to enter on the National Register; the NVR's powers to request documents in electronic form, use of enforceable undertakings and to allow for regulatory decisions to be stayed while under reconsideration; cancellation of VET qualifications and statements of attainment; the ministerâ—¬—¢s powers to issue directions to, and determine certain fees charged by, the NVR; certain offence provisions relating to the delivery of a VET course; processes for the appointment of acting Commissioners, the Deputy Chief Commissioner and the Chief Commissioner of the NVR; NVR's annual operational and corporate plans; and technical amendments; and National Vocational Education and Training Regulator (Transitional Provisions) Act 2011 to provide for transitional arrangements.
Senate:
- Introduced 4/12/19
- Passed 6/2/20
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 10/2/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 13/2/20
Assent: 26/2/20 (Act No. 10, 2020)
(Education, Skills and Employment portfolio)
Amends the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 to: amend the governance structure of the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator by replacing the existing Chief Commissioner/Chief Executive Officer and two commissioners with a single independent statutory office holder; establish the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Advisory Council; include information sharing arrangements that support the use of data collected by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research; and make amendments contingent on the commencement of the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Amendment Act 2020; National Vocational Education and Training Regulator (Transitional Provisions) Act 2001 to provide for transitional and application arrangements; and Education Services for Overseas Students Act 2000, Higher Education Support Act 2003, National Vocational Education and Training Regulator (Charges) Act 2012 and VET Student Loans Act 2016 to make consequential amendments.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/2/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 17/6/20
Senate:
- Introduced 17/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 17/6/20
(Attorney-General's portfolio)
Amends the: Native Title Act 1993 to: allow a native title claim or compensation group to impose conditions on the authority of its authorised applicant and require public notification of any such conditions; clarify the duties of the applicant to the claim group; allow the applicant to act by majority as the default position; allow the composition of the applicant to be changed without further authorisation in certain circumstances; allow the claim group to put in place succession-planning arrangements for individual members of the applicant; allow body corporate Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUAs) to cover areas where native title has been extinguished; remove the requirement for the Native Title Registrar to notify an area ILUA unless satisfied it meets the ILUA requirements; allow minor amendments to be made to an ILUA without a new registration process; specify that the removal of an ILUA from the register does not invalidate future acts subject to that ILUA; extend the circumstances in which historical extinguishment can be disregarded to areas of national, state or territory parks, and certain pastoral leases; allow a registered native title body corporate to bring a compensation application over an area where native title has been extinguished; require the registrar to create and maintain a public record of section 31 agreements; and make a number of technical amendments; and Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 to: require registered native title bodies corporate (RNTBC) constitutions to include dispute resolution pathways for persons who are or who claim to be common law holders, and provide for all the common law holders to be directly or indirectly represented in the RNTBC; limit the grounds for cancelling the membership of a member of a RNTBC to certain grounds; remove the discretion of directors of RNTBCs to refuse certain membership applications; specify that the registrar may place a RNTBC under special administration in certain circumstances; and ensure that proceedings in respect of a civil matter arising under the Act that relate to a RNTBC are to be instituted and determined exclusively in the Federal Court, unless transferred to another court with jurisdiction; confirm the validity of certain section 31 agreements; and provide that a person would be entitled to compensation if the bill effects the acquisition of property of a person other than on just terms (within the meaning of paragraph 51(xxxi) of the Constitution).
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 17/10/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 17/10/19
Senate:
(Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs portfolio)
Consequential on the Migration Amendment (New Skilled Regional Visas) Regulation 2019, which created two provisional skilled regional visas, the bill amends seven Acts to provide that holders of these provisional skilled regional visas will have the same access to welfare payments and government services as permanent visa holders where eligible.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 31/7/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 14/10/19
Senate:
- Provisions of bill referred to Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee 12/9/19 (SBC report 5/19); report presented out of sitting 11/10/19
- Introduced 17/10/19
- 2nd reading adjourned 17/10/19
(Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications portfolio)
Amends the Norfolk Island Act 1979 to: make technical amendments to the provisions authorising off-island sittings of the Supreme Court of Norfolk Island to remove any doubt that the Supreme Court may exercise its criminal or civil jurisdiction in a state, in the absence of an arrangement between the Commonwealth and the state government or authority, where no powers, duties or functions are conferred or imposed upon a state officer; and clarify the basis under which travelling allowances are determined for judges of the Supreme Court.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/5/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 13/5/20
(Senator Bernardi â—¬— Ind)
Amends the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Act 1998 and Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 to remove prohibitions on the construction or operation of certain nuclear installations.
Senate:
- Introduced 14/11/17
- 2nd reading adjourned 14/11/17, 30/11/17
- Lapsed immediately before commencement of 46th Parliament 1/7/19
- Restored to Notice Paper at 2nd reading 4/7/19
(Act citation: Official Development Assistance Multilateral Replenishment Obligations (Special Appropriation) Act 2020)
(Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio)
Appropriates money from the Consolidated Revenue Fund to meet certain Official Development Assistance Multilateral Replenishment Obligations in relation to the World Bank's International Development Association and debt relief schemes, including the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries Initiative and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative; the Asian Development Bank's Asian Development Fund; the Global Environment Facility Trust Fund; and the Multilateral Fund for the Implementation of the Montreal Protocol.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 24/10/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 24/2/20
Senate:
- Introduced 25/2/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 10/6/20
Assent: 16/6/20 (Act No. 52, 2020)
(Act citation: Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Cross-boundary Greenhouse
Gas Titles and Other Measures) Act 2020)
(Industry, Innovation and Science portfolio)
Introduced with the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2019, the bill amends the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 to: provide for the grant and administration of single greenhouse gas (GHG) titles that straddle the boundary between Commonwealth waters and state or Northern Territory coastal waters; enable unification of adjacent Commonwealth GHG titles; and strengthen and clarify the powers of National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority inspectors during oil pollution emergencies.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/12/19
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 11/2/20
Senate:
- Provisions of bill referred to Senate Economics Legislation Committee 5/12/19 (SBC report 10/19); report presented out of sitting 7/2/20
- Introduced 12/2/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 AG/negatived
- Committee amendments: 2 AG/negatived; 2 CA/negatived
- Passed 12/5/20
Assent: 15/5/20 (Act No. 43, 2020)
(Act citation: Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Act 2020)
(Industry, Innovation and Science portfolio)
Introduced with the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Cross-boundary Greenhouse Gas Titles and Other Measures) Bill 2019, the bill amends the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Act 2003 to: provide that the greenhouse gas related provisions of the Act and regulations apply, and are taken to have always applied, to the states and the Northern Territory; and make consequential amendments.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 4/12/19
- Passed 11/2/20
Senate:
Assent: 15/5/20 (Act No. 42, 2020)
(Social Services portfolio)
Amends the: Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 to implement changes to the paid parental leave scheme to enable eligible claimants to claim up to 30 days of parental leave pay (PLP) within 24 months of the birth or adoption of a child, in addition to 12 weeks of PLP within 12 months of the child's birth or adoption; and A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 and A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 to make consequential amendments.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 6/2/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 25/2/20
Senate:
- Provisions of bill referred to Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee 6/2/20 (SBC report 1/20); report presented out of sitting 19/3/20
- Introduced 25/2/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Committee amendments: 7 Govt/passed
- Committee requests for amendments: 2 AG/negatived; 1 CA/negatived
- Passed 11/6/20
House of Representatives:
- House of Representatives agreed to Senate amendments 11/6/20
Assent: 16/6/20 (Act No. 53, 2020)
(Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business portfolio)
Introduced with the Payment Times Reporting (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2020, the bill establishes a Payment Times Reporting Scheme which requires businesses and government enterprises with an annual total income of over $100 million to biannually report on their payment terms and practices for their small business suppliers.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/5/20
- 2nd reading amendment: 1 Opp/negatived
- Passed 11/6/20
Senate:
- Provisions of bill referred to Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee 12/6/20 (SBC report 5/20); report presented out of sitting 30/7/20
- Introduced 12/6/20
- 2nd reading adjourned 12/6/20
(Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business portfolio)
Introduced with the Payment Times Reporting Bill 2020, the bill amends the: Taxation Administration Act 1953 to enable the Commissioner of Taxation to disclose certain tax information to the Payment Times Reporting Regulator for the purposes of administering the Payment Times Reporting Scheme; and Payment Times Reporting Act 2020, when enacted, to make amendments contingent on the commencement of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia Act 2020.
House of Representatives:
- Introduced 13/5/20
- Passed 11/6/20
Senate:
- Provisions of bill referred to Senate Education and Employment Legislation Committee 12/6/20 (