Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

I give notice that, on the next day of sitting, I shall move:

That the provisions of paragraphs (5) to (8) of standing order 111 not apply to the following bills, allowing them to be considered during 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.

I table statements of reasons justifying the need for these bills to be considered during these sittings and seek leave to have the statements incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The statements read as follows—

STATEMENT OF REASONS FOR INTRODUCTION AND PASSAGE IN THE 2007 SPRING SITTINGS

APEC Public Holiday Bill 2007

Purpose of the Bill

The bill ensures that all federal system employees who work in the local government areas in which the APEC public holiday on 7 September 2007 is to be observed, will be entitled a paid day off on that public holiday.  On 4 July 2007, the Industrial and Other Legislation Amendment (APEC Public Holiday) Act 2007 (the NSW Act) was enacted by the NSW Parliament.  The NSW Act deems 7 September 2007 as a public holiday under State industrial instruments for NSW employees who work in the local government areas in which the APEC public holiday is to be observed and would otherwise be required to work on that day.

To the extent possible, the bill mirrors the approach taken in the NSW Act.  It applies only to those federal system employees working in areas in which the APEC public holiday is to be observed, and who are not covered by the statutory minimum public holiday entitlement in Part 12, Division 2 of the Workplace Relations Act 1996.  For this reason, the legislation applies only to employees covered by pre-reform certified agreements, pre-reform Australian Workplace Agreements, s 170MX awards, preserved State agreements and transitional awards and whose instrument does not provide for public holiday entitlements on that day.

Reasons for Urgency

The bill relates specifically to public holiday entitlements on the APEC public holiday and therefore must be in place before the APEC public holiday on 7 September 2007. The bill will need to be introduced and passed by 16 August 2007.

Social Security And Other Legislation Amendment (Welfare Payment Reform) Bill 2007

Northern Territory National Emergency Response Bill 2007

Families, Community Services And Indigenous Affairs And Other Legislation Amendment (Northern Territory National Emergency Response and Other Measures) Bill 2007

Appropriation (Northern Territory National Emergency Response) Bill (No. 1) 2007-2008

Appropriation (Northern Territory National Emergency Response) Bill (No. 2) 2007-2008

Purpose of the Bills

The package of bills will:

• provide the legislation for new national welfare measures to help children at risk of neglect, or who are not enrolled at school or adequately attending school, by establishing a national income management regime, under which part of a person’s payment will be used to pay the priority needs of that person, their partner and their children, without reducing overall payments;
• establish an income management regime that applies in respect of people on certain welfare payments in the Northern Territory, as part of the Commonwealth’s Northern Territory National Emergency Response, and in Cape York;
• provide the remaining legislation in relation to the Australian Government’s response to the national emergency confronting the welfare of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory, including restrictions on alcohol, bans on prohibited pornographic material, acquisition of certain leases, provision for government retention of interest in buildings and infrastructure constructed or upgraded on Aboriginal land using government funds and certain changes to the provisions governing access to Aboriginal land; and
• provide Supplementary Appropriation Bills that request legislative authority for further expenses to be incurred in 2007-2008.

Reasons for Urgency

The impact of sexual abuse on Indigenous children, families and communities is a most serious issue requiring decisive and prompt action.  To protect children and put an end to the dysfunction of communities requires a national emergency response.

Early passage would secure the early implementation of these important measures to help ensure that children receive appropriate care and attend school.  It would also secure the emergency response necessary in relation to the Australian Government’s response to the national emergency confronting the welfare of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory, including by allowing funds to be made available to agencies.

Senator Stott Despoja to move on 9 August 2007:

(1)

That a select committee, to be known as the Select Committee on Australia’s Anti-terrorism Laws be established to inquire into and report upon Australia’s anti-terrorism laws in light of the case of Dr Mohamed Haneef, including whether the laws which enabled the detention and charging of Dr Haneef:

(a)

adequately safeguard Australian citizens from the threat of terrorism;

(b)

reasonably and adequately define ‘terrorism’ and terrorism-related offences;

(c)

provide reasonable and adequate guidance on matters of policy, practice and procedure to investigative and enforcement agencies, such as the Australian Federal Police;

(d)

maintain an appropriate balance between the need to curtail individual freedoms in situations involving a terrorist threat and the fundamental civil liberties and human rights of Australian citizens;

(e)

have affected fundamental principles of justice such as the presumption of innocence and habeus corpus, and the granting of bail;

(f)

allow for periods of indefinite detention of suspects while being questioned or contain provisions allowing for periods of ‘dead time’ which require amendment or review;

(g)

are in accordance with notions of procedural fairness and natural justice;

(h)

contain or require provisions allowing parliamentary or judicial review;

(i)

are compatible with Australia’s obligations under international law;

(j)

interact appropriately with other powers of detention or deportation, for example immigration laws; and

(k)

any other related matters pertaining to the operation of the laws.

(2)

That the committee present its final report on or before 1 December 2007.

(3)

That the committee consist of 9 senators, as follows:

(a)

4 to be nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate;

(b)

3 to be nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate; and

(c)

2 to be nominated by minority groups or independents.

(4)

That the committee may proceed to the dispatch of business notwithstanding that all members have not been duly nominated and appointed and notwithstanding any vacancy.

(5)

That the committee elect as chair one of the members nominated by the non-government parties in the Senate.

(6)

That the chair of the committee may, from time to time, appoint another member of the committee to be the deputy chair of the committee, and that the member so appointed act as chair of the committee at any time when there is no chair or the chair is not present at a meeting of the committee.

(7)

That, in the event of an equality of voting, the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, have a casting vote.

(8)

That the quorum of the committee be 5 members.

(9)

That the committee and any subcommittee have power to send for and examine persons and documents, to move from place to place, to sit in public or in private, notwithstanding any prorogation of the Parliament or dissolution of the House of Representatives, and have leave to report from time to time its proceedings and the evidence taken and such interim recommendations as it may deem fit.

(10)

That the committee have power to appoint subcommittees consisting of 3 or more of its members, and to refer to any such subcommittee any of the matters which the committee is empowered to consider, and that the quorum of a subcommittee be a majority of the senators appointed to the subcommittee.

(11)

That the committee be provided with all necessary staff, facilities and resources and be empowered to appoint persons with specialist knowledge for the purposes of the committee with the approval of the President.

(12)

That the committee be empowered to print from day to day such papers and evidence as may be ordered by it, and a daily Hansard be published of such proceedings as take place in public.

Senator Milne to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate:

(a)

notes that:

(i)

India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),

(ii)

the United States of America (US) and India have agreed to the terms of a deal to exempt India from US laws and international rules that seek to prevent states that are not parties to the NPT from using commercial imports of nuclear technology and fuel to aid their nuclear weapons ambitions,

(iii)

under the India-US nuclear deal two reactors dedicated to making plutonium for nuclear weapons and nine power reactors, including a plutonium breeder reactor that is under construction, will be outside international safeguards,

(iv)

India needs to import uranium to relieve an acute fuel shortage for its existing nuclear reactors and that importing uranium will free up more of India’s domestic uranium for its military program,

(v)

Pakistan has expressed its fears about the India-US nuclear deal, and

(vi)

any sale of Australian uranium would contravene the NPT; and

(b)

calls on the Government to use its position in the Nuclear Suppliers Group to block the India-US nuclear deal and reject any sale of Australian uranium to India.

Senator Bob Brown to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate:

(a)

calls on the Prime Minister (Mr Howard) and the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Rudd) to extend the same pre-election courtesy and access to all other sectors in the diverse Australian community that they are showing to the Australian Christian Lobby at the Press Club and around Australia on Thursday, 9 August 2007; and

(b)

notes that Indigenous groups, welfare groups, other religions, non-religious groups, unions, small business groups, students, environmental non-government organisations and other sectors of the Australian community are not currently offered the same opportunity to have direct access to addresses by the leaders of the Coalition and Labor Party.

Senator Nettle to move on the next day of sitting:

That the following matter be referred to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee for inquiry and report by 15 October 2007:

All aspects of the detention and release of Dr Mohamed Haneef, including:

(a)

the source and veracity of information upon which decisions were made;

(b)

the actions of the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship (Mr Andrews), including his overriding of the Brisbane Magistrate’s Court decision to grant bail to Dr Haneef;

(c)

the role of other ministers, including the Attorney-General (Mr Ruddock) and the Prime Minister (Mr Howard);

(d)

the investigation by the Australian Federal Police and other agencies;

(e)

the decisions taken by the Director of Public Prosecutions;

(f)

the international impact on Australia of the Government’s handling of the case; and

(g)

any future decisions to be made in relation to Dr Haneef.

Senator Boswell to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate:

(a)

condemns the dictatorial actions of the Beattie Queensland Government in imposing forced amalgamations on Queensland local government without the opportunity for appeal;

(b)

expresses serious concern at the Queensland Government’s decision to impose fines on councillors who put the amalgamation policy to local citizens by referendum;

(c)

notes that the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights states that every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity to take part in the conduct of public affairs and that this right is being undermined by the Queensland State Government; and

(d)

calls on the Beattie Government to make any amalgamations voluntary as recommended by the Federal Leader of the Opposition (Mr Rudd).