Senate debates

Wednesday, 12 May 2010

Notices

Presentation

Senator Ludwig to move on the next day of sitting:

That—
(1)
To ensure appropriate consideration of time-critical bills by Senate committees, the provisions of all bills introduced into the House of Representatives after 13 May 2010 and before 3 June 2010 that contain provisions commencing on or before 1 July 2010 (together with the provisions of any related bill) are referred to committees for inquiry and report by 15 June 2010.
(2)
The committee to which each bill is referred shall be determined in accordance with the order of 13 February 2008 allocating departments and agencies to standing committees.
(3)
A committee to which a bill has been referred may determine that there are no substantive matters that require examination and report that fact to the Senate.
(4)
This order does not apply in relation to bills which contain no provisions other than provisions appropriating revenue or moneys (appropriation bills).

Senator Siewert to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate—
(a)
notes that:
(i)
the Government has included in the annual release of offshore petroleum exploration areas for 2010 an area 83 km off the coast of Margaret River in south Western Australia,
(ii)
the Government is expected to announce its final decision on the release of this area on 16 May 2010,
(iii)
up to 90 per cent of the marine life in the south west region of Australia is unique and half of the world’s whale and dolphin species use the region,
(iv)
the region is becoming increasingly important for the tourism industry,
(v)
the area proposed for release overlaps the Naturaliste Plateau, which is considered likely to be a treasure trove of undiscovered species,
(vi)
the south west region is currently undergoing assessment as part of the bioregional marine planning process,
(vii)
the proposed new petroleum exploration area overlaps the ‘southwest corner’ area identified within this process for further assessment and potential inclusion in a network of new marine parks under the bioregional marine planning framework, and
(viii)
the Montara Commission of Inquiry is still underway, and at the same time a serious oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is threatening large areas of the coast line of the United States of America; and
(b)
calls on the Government not to pre-empt the marine protection process and to withdraw the area off the coast of Margaret River from the offshore petroleum exploration areas release program until a network of marine protected areas has been put in place to protect the south west’s unique marine life.

Senator Scullion to move on the next day of sitting:

(1)
That the Senate requests the Auditor-General to undertake an urgent investigation of waste and mismanagement of the Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program (SIHIP), with regard to:
(a)
whether value for money is being achieved with the construction and renovation of houses, particularly:
(i)
the project management, administration and supervision costs being charged by the Alliance partner for houses renovated by sub-contractors,
(ii)
whether renovated houses are meeting minimum applicable housing standards as stipulated by the Northern Territory Government upon handover,
(iii)
what financial penalties have been applied for any houses that have failed to meet applicable standards or have had defects noted upon handover, and how was any remedial work paid for,
(iv)
how the guaranteed profit margin for Alliance partners is calculated and does this represent value for money for taxpayers, and
(v)
the comparison of actual construction costs of new and renovated houses through SIHIP compared with industry standard costs;
(b)
whether the Commonwealth Government is exercising sufficient supervision of the Northern Territory Government over the administration and implementation of SIHIP in order to prevent mismanagement and minimise waste;
(c)
the adequacy of tenancy arrangements and mechanisms in place for the Northern Territory Government to manage public housing stocks under SIHIP; and
(d)
any other examples of waste and mismanagement by either the Commonwealth or the Northern Territory governments in relation to this program that the Auditor-General deems relevant.
(2)
That the Auditor-General is requested to respond in a timely manner in order for the public to be fully informed of the program in advance of further parliamentary scrutiny of the issue.

Senator Xenophon to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Joint Select Committee on Cyber-Safety include in its terms of reference:
(a)
the merit of establishing an Online Ombudsman to investigate, advocate and act on cyber-safety issues; and
(b)
the risk of online gambling and simulated gambling applications, particularly those accessible to children.

Senator Xenophon to move on the next day of sitting:

That the following bill be introduced: A Bill for an Act to amend the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to require that religious and charitable institutions meet a public benefit test to justify their exemption from taxation, and for related purposes. Tax Laws Amendment (Public Benefit Test) Bill 2010.

Senator Fierravanti-Wells to move on the next day of sitting:

That the following matter be referred to the Finance and Public Administration References Committee for inquiry and report by 25 June 2010:

The key outcomes agreed by the Commonwealth Government and five states and two territories at the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting on 19 April and 20 April 2010 and the process of consultation between the states and Commonwealth prior to these agreements and related matters, including but not limited to:

(a)
the new financial arrangements between the Commonwealth and states and territories over the forward estimates and the conditional requirements upon the states for receipt of additional Commonwealth funding;
(b)
what amounts of the $5.4 billion Commonwealth funding is new spending, what is re-directed from existing programs/areas, the impact on these existing programs and what savings are projected in existing health programs across the forward estimates from these new financial arrangements, including the inputs, assumptions and modelling underpinning these funding amounts;
(c)
the projected number of additional/new services this additional funding will provide in elective surgery treatments, in emergency department treatments, in expected numbers of patients to sign up to the diabetes spending measure, in additional general practitioner (GP) treatments in aged care facilities, including the inputs, assumptions and modelling underpinning these projections;
(d)
the $15.6 billion top-up payments guaranteed to the states by the Commonwealth in the period 2014-15 to 2019-20, including exploring the breakdown of expenditure relating to hospitals, outpatient services, capital expenditure, GP and primary healthcare, aged care and other areas of health expenditure;
(e)
the names, roles, structures, operations, resourcing, funding and staffing of any new statutory bodies, organisations or other entities needed to establish, oversee, monitor, report upon or administer the National Health and Hospital Networks, Primary Care Organisations and the funding channels to be established under the COAG agreements;
(f)
what arrangements are in place, or are being negotiated for states that have not signed up, nor fully signed up to the COAG agreements, including what contingencies have been put in place for states that may want to alter agreements in future;
(g)
the intent of the state and territory governments and their preferred number and size of Local Hospital Networks in each state and territory;
(h)
the number of hospitals which will receive: activity-based funding, block grant funding, or a mix of both;
(i)
aged care:
(i)
the 2 500 new aged care beds to be generated by zero interest loans,
(ii)
the 2 000 beds for long stay older patients to be established,
(iii)
the funding for the above, and
(iv)
the establishment of the Commonwealth Government as responsible for full funding, policy, management and delivery responsibility for a national aged care system;
(j)
mental health matters; and
(k)
any other related matter.

Senator Bushby to move on the next day of sitting:

That, when the Economics Legislation Committee meets to consider budget estimates in relation to the Department of the Treasury in the week beginning 31 May 2010, the Secretary of the department, Dr Henry, is to appear before the committee to answer questions.

Senator Moore to move on the next day of sitting:

That the time for the presentation of the report of the Community Affairs Legislation Committee on the Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labelling—Palm Oil) Bill 2009 be extended to 31 August 2010.

Senator McEwen to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Environment, Communications and the Arts Legislation Committee be authorised to hold a public meeting during the sitting of the Senate on Tuesday, 15 June 2010, from 4 pm to 6 pm, to consider the 2010-11 Budget estimates for Australia Post.

Senator Bob Brown to move on the 15 June 2010:

That the following bill be introduced: A Bill for an Act to deliver essential financial services at reasonable cost, fair mortgages for families and increased competition for the community, and for related purposes. Banking Amendment (Delivering Essential Financial Services for the Community) Bill 2010.

Senator Hanson-Young to move on the next day of sitting:

That the following matters be referred to the Education, Employment and Workplace Relations References Committee for inquiry and report by 31 July 2010:
(a)
the conflicting claims made by the Government, educational experts and peak bodies in relation to the publication of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing;
(b)
the implementation of possible safeguards and protocols around the public presentation of the testing and reporting data;
(c)
the impact of the NAPLAN assessment and reporting regime on:
(i)
the educational experience and outcomes for Australian students,
(ii)
the scope, innovation and quality of teaching practice,
(iii)
the quality and value of information about student progress provided to parents and principals, and
(iv)
the quality and value of information about individual schools to parents, principals and the general community; and
(d)
international approaches to the publication of comparative reporting of the results, i.e. ‘league tables’; and
(e)
other related matters.

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

That the Senate—
(a)
notes:
(i)
the calls from logging industry representatives in Tasmania and Victoria for assistance in the industry’s restructure, and
(ii)
the change in global wood market realities and potential; and
(b)
calls on the Government to review the industry’s circumstances with a view to aiding an early resolution of its problems.

Senator Hanson-Young to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate—
(a)
notes that:
(i)
Enrol to Vote Week 2010 will run from 17 May to 23 May 2010 with the theme ‘You never know when an election might be called!’, and
(ii)
in 2007 only 17 208 Australians enrolled or updated their details by 8 pm on the day election writs were issued compared to 423 975 in the old 7 day period in 2004; and
(b)
recognises the empowerment of young people to the democratic process.