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No. 22/2009
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The Senate met from 12.30pm until 11.29pm
New Senator
Senator Back gave his
first speech.
Legislation
Bills and related documents available on BillsNet <www.aph.gov.au/bills/index.htm>
Bills considered
The following bills were introduced
- Appropriation Bill (No. 5) 2008-2009
Appropriation Bill (No. 6) 2008-2009
- Commonwealth Electoral Amendment (Political Donations and Other
Measures) Bill 2009
[passed by the House of Representatives on 16 March 2009]
The following bill was debated
- Fair Work Bill 2008 Committee of the whole commenced 2
Opposition (1 as amended by Family First) and 38 Government
amendments agreed to and 2 clauses negatived. 3 Australian Greens
amendments to be determined
The following bills were agreed to subject to requests
- Customs Tariff Amendment (2009 Measures No. 1) Bill 2009
Excise Tariff Amendment (2009 Measures No. 1) Bill 2009
[See Journals
entry no. 24, 16 March 2009 for previous consideration of the
bills]
Notices of motion
To introduce a bill
- Migration Amendment (Abolishing Detention Debt) Bill 2009
notice given by the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship
(Senator Evans)
To enable bills to be taken together
- Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2008-2009
Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2008-2009
Appropriation Bill (No. 5) 2008-2009
Appropriation Bill (No. 6) 2008-2009
notice given by the Minister for Human Services (Senator
Ludwig)
Committees
For scheduled public
committee hearings
For committee
reports
Estimates
The following reports relating to estimates hearings were
tabled:
Reports tabled
- Electoral Matters Joint Committee 2007 federal election
electronic voting trials Inquiry into the conduct of the 2007
election and matters related thereto Interim
report [a motion to take note of the report was agreed to]
- Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee Annual reports
referred to committees
Report no. 1 of 2009
Proposed reference
The Senate did not agree to refer matters relating to
foreign investments in Australia to the Economics
Committee.
Meetings during the sitting of the Senate
The Senate authorised the following meetings to be held while
the Senate is sitting:
- Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee 19 March 2009 In
camera hearing from 5.00pm Economic and security challenges facing
Papua New Guinea and the island states of the southwest
Pacific
- Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Joint Committee 19 March
2009 from 10.00am Human rights mechanisms and the Asia-Pacific
- Treaties Joint Committee 17 March 2009 from 8.00pm Private
meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1)
Reporting dates extended
The Senate extended reporting dates for the following
inquiries:
- Community Affairs Committee Implementation of recommendations
of committee reports on child migration and Australians who
experienced institutional or out-of-home care as children to report
by 25 June 2009
- Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee Water
Amendment (Saving the Goulburn and Murray Rivers) Bill 2008 to
report by 7 May 2009
Notices of motion given
To establish a continuing order
-
Order of continuing effect relating to the requests for
information or documents from a Commonwealth department or agency
notice given by Senator Cormann
To hold meetings when the Senate is sitting
- Economics Committee 18 and 19 March 2009 from 6.30pm Exposure
draft of the legislation to implement the Carbon Pollution
Reduction Scheme
To refer a matter to a committee
Membership
The Senate agreed to
various changes to committee membership.
Documents
Delegated legislation
See Disallowance
Alert for a complete list of notices of motion to disallow (and
outcomes)
-
Clerk's documents were tabled [legislative instruments and
other documents required by statute to be tabled, including
Governor-General's Proclamations]
Orders for the production of documents
Statement by Minister
The Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion (Senator
Stephens) made
a statement about the order of the Senate [agreed to on
11 March 2009] requiring the tabling of documents concerning
information relating to the Department of the Treasury modelling,
Australia's Low Pollution Future: The economics of climate
change mitigation no later than noon on 13 March 2009. The
Minister indicated that the documents would not be provided.
Senator Cormann and the Leader of the Australian Greens
(Senator
Bob Brown) made statements in response.
Order with continuing effect
Indexed lists of departmental and agency files published on
the Internet
Statements of compliance for the Infrastructure, Transport,
Regional Development and Local Government portfolio and the Office
of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General were tabled
[Letters of advice about certain files created by departments and
agencies are required
to be tabled twice a year]
Documents tabled
Other business
Questions without notice and issues arising during question time
first question
Adjournment debate
first speaker
Motion agreed to
Motions negatived
Motion debated
The Senate discussed
matters relating to the Queensland economy, raised by Senator
Brandis as a matter of public importance. [first
speaker]
Proposed extra days of meeting for 2009
The Senate did not agree to a
motion moved by the Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator
Bob Brown) to enable the Senate to sit from 6 to 9 April 2009.
Death of Australian soldier
The Leader of the Government in the Senate (Senator Evans) made
a
statement relating to the death of an Australian soldier on
combat operations in Afghanistan. Party leaders and Senator
Xenophon made statements in response [first
speaker].
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