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No. 51/2007

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The Senate met from 12.30pm until 7.40pm

Legislation

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

Bills considered

The following bills were debated

• Crimes Legislation Amendment (National Investigative Powers and Witness Protection) Bill 2006 [2007] 17 Government amendments agreed to and 2 items negatived

The following documents were tabled

• Particulars of proposed expenditure and portfolio supplementary estimates statements 2007-08 relating to the Northern Territory national emergency response legislation

Notices of motion

To introduce bills

• Migration Legislation Amendment (Restoration of Rights and Procedural Fairness) Bill 2007 notice given by Senator Bartlett [private senator's bill]
• Same-Sex: Same Entitlements Bill 2007 notice given by the Leader of the Australian Democrats (Senator Allison) and Senators Bartlett, Murray and Stott Despoja [private senators' bill]

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

• APEC Public Holiday Bill 2007
• Appropriation ( Northern Territory National Emergency Response) Bill (No. 1) 2007-2008
• Appropriation ( Northern Territory National Emergency Response) Bill (No. 2) 2007-2008
• Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Northern Territory National Emergency Response and Other Measures) Bill 2007
• Northern Territory National Emergency Response Bill 2007
• Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Welfare Payment Reform) Bill 2007

Message from the House of Representatives

• Communications Legislation Amendment (Content Services) Bill 2007 agreeing to the amendments made by the Senate [This bill has now been assented to]

Bills assented to

Assent to a number of laws was reported in the Senate

See Committees for details of reports relating to legislation

Delegated legislation

See Disallowance Alert for a complete list of notices of motion to disallow (and outcomes)

Notice of motion to disallow given

Senator Bob Brown gave notice of a motion to be considered on the next day of sitting to disapprove a determination that amends Remuneration Tribunal Determination 2005/19 Principal Executive Office Classification Structure and Terms and Conditions. He also gave notice of his intention to withdraw an identical notice that had been set down for consideration on 10 September 2007.

See Documents for details of instruments [Clerk's documents] tabled

Committees

For scheduled public committee hearings

For committee reports

Reports tabled

Reports on legislation

• Australian Citizenship Amendment (Citizenship Testing) Bill 2007 Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
• Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia's Skills Needs) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2007 Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Committee
• Aviation Legislation Amendment (2007 Measures No. 1) Bill 2007 Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee
• Classification (Publications, Films and Computer Games) Amendment (Terrorist Material) Bill 2007 Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
• Communications Legislation Amendment (Information Sharing and Datacasting) Bill 2007 Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Committee Interim report
• Financial Sector Legislation Amendment (Discretionary Mutual Funds and Direct Offshore Foreign Insurers) Bill 2007 and a related bill Economics Committee Interim report and report
• Financial Sector Legislation Amendment (Simplifying Regulation and Review) Bill 2007 Economics Committee Interim report and report
• Higher Education Support Amendment (Extending FEE-HELP for VET Diploma and VET Advanced Diploma Courses) Bill 2007 Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Committee
• International Trade Integrity Bill 2007 Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
• Migration Amendment (Sponsorship Obligations) Bill 2007 Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
• Social Security Amendment (2007 Measures No. 1) Bill 2007 Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Committee
• Social Security Legislation Amendment (2007 Budget Measures for Students) Bill 2007 Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Committee
• Superannuation Legislation Amendment Bill 2007 Finance and Public Administration Committee
• Tax Laws Amendment (2007 Measures No. 4) Bill 2007 and 2 related bills Economics Committee Interim report and report
• Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2007 Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee
• Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Protecting Services for Rural and Regional Australia into the Future) Bill 2007 Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Committee
• Trade Practices Amendment (Predatory Pricing) Bill 2007 Economics Committee
• Trade Practices Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 2007 Economics Committee

Other reports

• Joint Corporations and Financial Services Committee Structure and operation of the superannuation industry
• Privileges Committee 130th report Person referred to in the Senate ( Mr Darryl Hockey ) [A motion to adopt the report was agreed to.]

Documents tabled

• Australian Citizenship Amendment (Citizenship Testing) Bill 2007 Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Additional information
• Work of Committees Financial year statistics: 1 July 2006 to 30 June 2007; and half-year statistics: 1 January to 30 June 2007

Government responses tabled

Government responses to committee reports were tabled

• Electoral Matters Joint Committee Funding and disclosure: Inquiry into disclosure of donations to political parties and candidates
• Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Response to committee's recommendations on the Crimes Legislation Amendment (National Investigative Powers and Witness Protection) Bill 2006 [2007]
• Treaties Joint Committee 66th report Treaties tabled on 7 December 2004 (4), 15 March and 11 May 2005

Public meeting

The Senate authorised the Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Committee to hold a public meeting while the Senate was sitting on 7 August 2007 from 5pm for the committee's inquiry into the Communications Legislation Amendment (Information Sharing and Datacasting) Bill 2007.

Reporting date extended

The Senate agreed to extend the reporting date for the inquiry of the Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts Committee into the Communications Legislation Amendment (Information Sharing and Datacasting) Bill 2007 to 9 August 2007.

Notices of motion given

To establish a select committee:

• Australia's Anti-Terrorism Laws Select Committee to report by 1 December 2007

To extend reporting deadlines:

• Australia's involvement in international peacekeeping operations to report by 25 October 2007
• Australia's public diplomacy Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee to report by 16 August 2007

To refer matters to committees:

• Detention and release of Dr Mohammed Haneef Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee to report by 15 October 2007
• Northern Territory National Emergency Response Bill 2007 and a related bill Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee to report by 10 September 2007
• Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Welfare Payment Reform) Bill 2007 Community Affairs Committee to report by 10 September 2007

Documents

Orders for the production of documents Orders with continuing effect

Indexed lists of departmental and agency files published on the Internet

A statement of compliance for the Australian Agency for International Development was tabled [Letters of advice about certain files created by departments and agencies are required to be tabled twice a year]

Documents tabled

• 38th Conference of Presiding Officers and Clerks, Rarotonga, Cook Islands, 7 to 14 July 2007 Report
• Auditor-General Audit reports nos 48 to 53 of 2006-07 and reports nos 1 to 3 of 2007-08
• Business of the Senate 1 January to 30 June 2007 [a digest of all business considered by the Senate in the first half of 2007]
• Clerk's documents [legislative instruments and other documents required by statute to be tabled, including Governor-General's Proclamations]
• Government documents [and considered]
• Government documents presented since the last sitting of the Senate
• Odgers' Australian Senate Practice 11th edition Supplement Updates to 30 June 2007
• Original certificate of the choice by the Western Australian Parliament of Senator Cormann
• Questions on notice summary 16 November 2004 to 30 June 2007
• 2 petitions

Other business

Questions without notice and issues arising during question time first question

Adjournment debate first speaker

Motion agreed to

• Palm Island community moved by Senator Bob Brown

Motion negatived

• Desalination plants in Victoria moved by the Leader of the Australian Democrats (Senator Allison)

President of the Senate

The President announced that he would resign as President of the Senate on 14 August 2007, and as a Senator for Tasmania before the sittings in September.

Notices of motion

Notices of motion given today are available in the Senate Journals.

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Online

The Senate Daily Summary is available on the Internet at www.aph.gov.au/senate

It is issued by the Senate Table Office as a convenient summary of each day's proceedings in the Senate. For a complete account see the official record, the Journals of the Senate, on the Internet at http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/pubs/index.htm

Related resources

The Order of Business (or Senate Red') and the Dynamic Red (which updates the Order of Business throughout the sitting day) are also available on the Internet at www.aph.gov.au/senate

Contact details

Inquiries, comments and suggestions:
phone 6277 3021
e-mail: sds@aph.gov.au