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No. 04/2009

Thursday, 5 February 2009

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The Senate met from 9.30am until 6.59pm

Sittings of the Senate

The Senate did not agree to a motion standing in the name of the Minister for Human Services (Senator Ludwig) to vary the hours of meeting and routine of business for 5 February 2009.

Notices given by Senator Ludwig to alter the current sitting pattern and to exempt the Appropriation (Nation Building and Jobs) Bill (No. 1) 2008-2009 and 5 related bills from the cut-off order, were not proceeded with.

A motion moved by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Senator Minchin), the Leader of the Australian Greens (Senator Bob Brown), the Leader of the Family First Party (Senator Fielding) and Senator Xenophon was agreed to by the Senate. This motion alters the current sitting pattern and the dates for the 2008-09 additional estimates hearings, and varies the hours of meeting and routine of business for 5 and 12 February 2009.

For details of the motions, see Journals of the Senate.

For details of the debate, see Senate Hansard.

Legislation

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

Bills considered

The following bills were introduced

• Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2008 [passed by the House of Representatives on 4 February 2009]
• Federal Justice System Amendment (Efficiency Measures) Bill (No. 1) 2008 [passed by the House of Representatives on 5 February 2009]
• Foreign Evidence Amendment Bill 2008 [passed by the House of Representatives on 5 February 2009]
• Telecommunications Interception Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2008 [passed by the House of Representatives on 5 February 2009]

The following bills were introduced and debated
[passed by the House of Representatives on 5 February 2009 am]

• Appropriation (Nation Building and Jobs) Bill (No. 1) 2008-2009
  Appropriation (Nation Building and Jobs) Bill (No. 2) 2008-2009
  Household Stimulus Package Bill 2009
  Tax Bonus for Working Australians Bill 2009
  Tax Bonus for Working Australians (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009
  Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Amendment Bill 2009
  –second reading debate commenced [first speaker]

The following bill was passed

• Auditor-General Amendment Bill 2008 [2009] [The House of Representatives will now consider this bill]

Message from the House of Representatives

• Social Security Legislation Amendment (Employment Services Reform) Bill 2008–agreeing to the amendments made by the Senate [this bill will now be assented to]

Committees

For scheduled public committee hearings

For committee reports

Estimates

• Additional information arising from estimates hearings was tabled
• Portfolio supplementary additional estimates statements were tabled

Report tabled

• Selection of Bills Committee–Report No. 1 of 2009

Documents tabled

• Regulations and Ordinances Committee–Delegated legislation monitor–Disallowable legislative instruments tabled in the Senate in 2008
• Work of Committees–Year statistics: 1 January to 31 December 2008; and half-year statistics: 1 July to 31 December 2008

Government response tabled

• Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Committee–Australia's public diplomacy: Building our image

New inquiries

Legislation

• Appropriation (Nation Building and Jobs) Bill (No. 1) 2008-2009
  Appropriation ( Nation Building and Jobs) Bill (No. 2) 2008-2009
  Household Stimulus Package Bill 2009
  Tax Bonus for Working Australians Bill 2009
  Tax Bonus for Working Australians (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2009
  Commonwealth Inscribed Stock Amendment Bill 2009
  –Finance and Public Administration Committee–to report by 10 February 2009
• Provisions of the Appropriation ( Nation Building and Jobs) Bill (No. 2) 2008-2009–Community Affairs Committee–to report by 10 February 2009

Other references

• Australia's judicial system and the role of judges–Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee–to report by 17 August 2009

Public meetings

The Senate authorised the following public meetings to be held while the Senate is sitting:

• Finance and Public Administration Committee–
  • 5 February 2009 from 3.45pm–Freedom of Information (Removal of Conclusive Certificates and Other Measures) Bill 2008 [2009]
  • 26 February 2009 from 3.30pm–Residential and community aged care in Australia
• Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee–5 February 2009 from 4.30pm to 6.00pm–Federal Court of Australia Amendment (Criminal Jurisdiction) Bill 2008

For details of committees authorised to meet during the sitting of the Senate to consider the Appropriation (Nation Building and Jobs) Bill (No. 1) 2008-2009 and related bills see Journals entries nos 5, 22 and 34.

Membership

The Senate agreed to various changes to committee membership.

A message from the House of Representatives was reported informing the Senate of the appointment of Mrs Irwin to the Treaties Joint Committee in place of Mr Trevor.

Documents

Delegated legislation

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

• A Clerk's document was tabled [legislative instruments and other documents required by statute to be tabled]

Document tabled

• Auditor-General–Audit report no. 20 of 2008-09

Orders for the production of documents

Document tabled

The following documents were tabled in response to orders of the Senate:

• The Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector ( Senator Stephens)–answers to various questions relating to the increase in excise on certain alcoholic drinks [tabled in response to the order of the Senate agreed to on 4 February 2009 on the motion of Senator Cormann]

Statement by Minister

The Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector (Senator Stephens) made a statement about the order of the Senate [agreed to on 4 February 2009] requiring the tabling of documents relating to the Department of the Treasury report Australia's low pollution future: The economics of climate change mitigation. The Minister indicated certain documents were commercial-in-confidence and would not be released.

Ministerial statement tabled

The Minister for Climate Change and Water (Senator Wong) tabled a ministerial statement about the situation in Sri Lanka.

Other business

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

Motions agreed to

• 2009 Tour Down Under cycling event –moved by Senator Hurley
• Japanese whaling–moved by Senator Siewert

Motion negatived

• Immigration detention policy–moved by Senator Hanson-Young

Notices of motion

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

Statistics

Statistics on the work of the Senate this week will be available in the Statistical Summary, which forms part of StatsNet–the Department of the Senate's online statistical collection.

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Online

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

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

Related resources

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

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