Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the third report of 2008 of the Selection of Bills Committee, and I seek leave to have the report incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The report read as follows—

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

REPORT NO. 3 OF 2008

1.

The committee met in private session on Tuesday, 18 March 2008 at 4.17 pm.

2.

The committee resolved to recommend—That—(a)  the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Fair Bank and Credit Card Fees) Amendment Bill 2008 be referred immediately to the Economics Committee for inquiry and report by 16 September 2008 (see appendix 1 for a statement of reasons for referral); (b)  the provisions of the Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Emergency Response Consolidation) Bill 2008 be referred immediately to the Community Affairs Committee for inquiry and report by 7 May 2008 (see appendix 2 for a statement of reasons for referral); (c)  the provisions of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Communications Fund) Bill 2008 be referred immediately to the Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee for inquiry and report by 30 April 2008 (see appendix 3 for a statement of reasons for referral); and (d)  the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2008 be referred immediately to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee for inquiry and report by 1 May 2008 (see appendix 4 for a statement of reasons for referral).

(a)

the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Fair Bank and Credit Card Fees) Amendment Bill 2008 be referred immediately to the Economics Committee for inquiry and report by 16 September 2008 (see appendix 1 for a statement of reasons for referral);

(b)

the provisions of the Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Emergency Response Consolidation) Bill 2008 be referred immediately to the Community Affairs Committee for inquiry and report by 7 May 2008 (see appendix 2 for a statement of reasons for referral);

(c)

the provisions of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Communications Fund) Bill 2008 be referred immediately to the Environment, Communications and the Arts Committee for inquiry and report by 30 April 2008 (see appendix 3 for a statement of reasons for referral); and

(d)

the Telecommunications (Interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2008 be referred immediately to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee for inquiry and report by 1 May 2008 (see appendix 4 for a statement of reasons for referral).

3.

The committee resolved to recommend—That the following bills not be referred to committees:

• Cluster Munitions (Prohibition) Bill 2006 [2008]
• Constitution Alteration (Appropriations for the Ordinary Annual Services of the Government) 2001 [2008]
• Constitution Alteration (Electors’ Initiative, Fixed Term Parliaments and Qualification of Members) 2000 [2008]
• Electoral (Greater Fairness of Electoral Processes) Amendment Bill 2007 [2008]
• Electoral Amendment (Political Honesty) Bill 2003 [2008]
• Euthanasia Laws (Repeal) Bill 2004 [2008]
• Genetic Privacy and Non-discrimination Bill 1998 [2008]
• Horse Disease Response Levy Bill 2008
• Horse Disease Response Levy Collection Bill 2008
• Horse Disease Response Levy (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2008
• Interstate Road Transport Charge Amendment Bill 2008
• Road Transport Charges (Australian Capital Territory) Repeal Bill 2008
• Migration Legislation Amendment (Access to Judicial Review of Migration Decisions) Bill 2007 [2008]
• Migration Legislation Amendment (Complementary Protection Visas) Bill 2006 [2008]
• Migration Legislation Amendment (End of Mandatory Detention) Bill 2006 [2008]
• Migration Legislation Amendment (Migration Zone Excision Repeal) Bill 2006 [2008]
• Migration Legislation Amendment (Migration Zone Excision Repeal) (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2006 [2008]
• Migration Legislation Amendment (Provisions Relating to Character and Conduct) Bill 2006 [2008]
• Migration Legislation Amendment (Restoration of Rights and Procedural Fairness) Bill 2007 [2008]
• Migration Legislation Amendment (Temporary Protection Visas Repeal) Bill 2006 [2008]
• Ministers of State (Post-Retirement Employment Restrictions) Bill 2002 [2008]
• Parliamentary Charter of Rights and Freedoms Bill 2001 [2008]
• Patents Amendment Bill 1996 [2008]
• Peace and Non-Violence Commission Bill 2007 [2008]
• Privacy (Data Security Breach Notification) Amendment Bill 2007 [2008]
• Privacy (Extension to Political Acts and Practices) Amendment Bill 2006 [2008]
• Protecting Children from Junk Food Advertising Bill 2006 [2008]
• Public Interest Disclosures Bill 2007 [2008]
• Qantas Sale (Keep Jetstar Australian) Amendment Bill 2007 [2008]
• Repatriation of Citizens Bill 2007 [2008]
• Republic (Consultation of the People) Bill 2001 [2008]
• Same-Sex Marriages Bill 2006 [2008]
• Same-Sex: Same Entitlements Bill 2007 [2008]
• Special Broadcasting Service Amendment (Prohibition of Disruptive Advertising) Bill 2008
• State Elections (One Vote, One Value) Bill 2001 [2008]
• Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Trustee Board and Other Measures) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2008
• Taxation Laws Amendment (Scholarships) Bill 2005 [2008]
• Textbook Subsidy Bill 2003 [2008]
• Uranium Mining in or near Australian World Heritage Properties (Prohibition) Bill 1998 [2008]
• Veterans’ Entitlements Legislation Amendment (2007 Election Commitments) Bill 2008
• Workplace Relations (Guaranteeing Paid Maternity Leave) Amendment Bill 2007 [2008].

The committee recommends accordingly.

4.

The committee deferred consideration of the following bills to its next meeting:

• Drink Container Recycling Bill 2008
• Tax Laws Amendment (2008 Measures No. 1) Bill 2008
• Trade Practices (Creeping Acquisitions) Amendment Bill 2007 [2008].

(Kerry O’Brien)

Chair 19 March 2008

Appendix 1

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee

Name of bill:

Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Fair Bank and Credit Card Fees) Amendment Bill 2008

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

An earlier version of the Fair Bank and Credit Card Fees Bill was referred for inquiry by the Senate Economics Committee last year, but the inquiry did not finish because of the election.

Family First’s bill is to stop banks slugging customers with unreasonable bank penalty fees on their accounts and credit cards by:

• Ensuring penalty fees are for cost recovery only;
• Giving the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) the power to demand information to ensure fees reflect costs;
• Boosting the powers of ASIC to monitor fees and investigate customer complaints and issues referred by the Treasurer;
• Outlawing inward cheque dishonour fees;
• Stopping penalty fees charged because another bank charge has pushed the customer over or under the necessary bank balance;
• Preventing penalty fees for customers exceeding their credit card limit where the bank does not give customers the option of a solid maximum credit limit; and,
• Banning charging multiple fees for the same mistake.

Possible submissions or evidence from:

Choice, Consumer Action Law Centre, Australian Bankers Association, Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Law Council of Australia, St Vincent de Paul Society.

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Senate Economics Committee

Possible hearing date(s):

18-20 August

Possible reporting date:

16 September 2008

(signed)

Steve Fielding 13/3/08

Whip/Selection of Bills Committee member

Appendix 2

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee

Name of bill(s):

Families, Housing, Community Services And Indigenous Affairs And Other Legislation Amendment (Emergency Response Consolidation) Bill 2008

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration

Transmission of pornography via broadcast

Transportation of pornography through computers

Reinstatement of permit system

Possible submissions or evidence from:

Child Welfare agencies

Committee for NT intervention

Women & Child Representatives Groups

Victims advocacy groups

Indigenous representatives

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Legal and Constitutional

Possible hearing date(s):

Hearings in all states recommended.

Possible reporting date:

30 ^th April 2008

(signed)

Stephen Parry

Whip/Selection of Bills Committee member

Appendix 3

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee

Name of bill(s):

Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Communications Fund) Bill 2008

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration

Labour wants to use the Communications Fund, plus its interest to pay for its fibre to the node network, which will predominantly service people in and around our capital cities. There are very real fears that this money, responsibly locked away by the former government for use in rural and regional Australia in perpetuity, will be reckessly used to displace private sector investment in sectors of the market that are already commercially viable. This was a measure that had longevity. The perpetual fund was fiscally conservative. It was forward looking but it is being abandoned by the Rudd Labor Government.

Possible submissions or evidence from:

Industry and Consumer groups

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Environment, Communications, Information Technology and the Arts

Possible hearing date(s):

-

Possible reporting date:

30 ^th April 2008

(signed)

Stephen Parry

Whip/Selection of Bills Committee member

Appendix 4

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee

Name of bill(s):

Telecommunications (interception and Access) Amendment Bill 2008

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration

To examine the provisions of the bill; and in particular the device-based interception warrant regime and whether the proposed amendments:

(a)

amount to an incremental expansion in the telecommunication interception powers of intelligence and law enforcement agencies;

(b)

will result in the diminution of safeguards provided by the want process;

(c)

will exacerbate the risks associated with device-based interception;

(d)

should require that every device authorized under warrant for interception is be identified in the warrant;

(e)

are appropriate given uncertainty as to whether devices to be intercepted under warrant can be uniquely and reliably identified for interception purposes.

Possible submissions or evidence from:

Law Council

Electronic Frontiers

Australian Privacy Foundation

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Legal and Constitutional Affairs

Possible hearing date(s):

-

Possible reporting date:

1 May 2008

(signed)

Andrew Bartlett

Senator Andrew Bartlett, Australian Democrat Whip

by leave—I move:

That the report be adopted.

Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I support the motion that the report be adopted. I simply feel compelled to put on the record the contrasts. The Selection of Bills Committee is recommending four bills to be referred to various committees for consideration, one of which is the government’s legislation which makes some small modifications to the Northern Territory emergency intervention. I support that committee reference. I simply feel compelled to put on the record the contrast between last year and now. Last year a massive set of four bills, putting in place the intervention in the Northern Territory, was forced through this chamber in the space of a week, with a one-day hearing in Canberra begrudgingly provided to the committee, with no opportunity to go to the Territory to hear from people directly affected and with the authors of the Little children are sacred report prevented from even giving evidence to the committee.

I contrast that with now, when some small modifications to those large pieces of legislation regarding a couple of matters are being sent to a committee and there will be two months between when the legislation was first introduced and when it is debated in this chamber—a proposal that the coalition suggested be referred and which I support. The same coalition that denied this Senate the opportunity to properly examine four pieces of legislation is now requesting two months to look at minor modifications to that legislation and, in its proposal for referral, suggested—to quote from the appendix to this report—‘hearings in all states’. As far as I know, it affects only the Northern Territory. It might have minor implications for Cape York in Queensland—I am not sure—but the contrast between how the previous government operated and what it forced on this Senate in terms of consideration of important legislation and what it is now seeking to do is stark, to put it politely. I think the hypocrisy needs to be highlighted in this chamber if for no other reason than to try to reduce the chances of it happening again.

Question agreed to.