Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the ninth report for 2019 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. 9 OF 2019

1. The committee met in private session on Wednesday, 27 November 2019 at 7.30pm.

2. The committee recommends that—

(a) the Agriculture Legislation Amendment (Streamlining Administration) Bill 2019 be referred immediately to the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 31 January 2020 (see appendix 1 for a statement of reasons for referral);

(b) the provisions of the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Amendment (Enhancing Australia's Anti-Doping Capability) Bill 2019 be referred immediately to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 3 February 2020 (see appendix 2 for a statement of reasons for referral);

(c) the provisions of the Migration Amendment (Regulation of Migration Agents) Bill 2019 and the Migration Agents Registration Application Charge Amendment (Rates of Charge) Bill 2019 be referred immediately to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee but was unable to reach agreement on a reporting date (see appendix 3 for a statement of reasons for referral);

(d) the provisions of the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer) Bill 2019 and the Telecommunications (Regional Broadband Scheme) Charge Bill 2019 be referred immediately to the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 21 February 2020 (see appendix 4 for a statement of reasons for referral);

(e) the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Unsolicited Communications) Bill 2019 be referred immediately to the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 17 April 2020 (see appendix 5 for a statement of reasons for referral);

(f) the provisions of the Transport Security Amendment (Serious Crime) Bill 2019 be referred immediately to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 21 February 2020 (see appendix 6 for a statement of reasons for referral); and

(g) the provisions of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Your Superannuation, Your Choice) Bill 2019 be referred immediately to the Economics Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 21 February 2020 (see appendix 7 for a statement of reasons for referral).

3. The committee recommends that the following bills not be referred to committees:

National Self-exclusion Register (Cost Recovery Levy) Bill 2019

Foreign Acquisitions and Takeovers Fees Imposition Amendment (Near-new Dwelling Interests) Bill 2019.

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

(Dean Smith)

Chair

28 November 2019

Appendix 1

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee

Name of bill:

Agriculture Legislation Amendment (Streamlining Administration) Bill 2019

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

Possible submissions or evidence from:

Department of Agriculture and Water Resources

National Farmers Federation

Inspector-General for Biosecurity

Border Force

Ports Australia

Shipping Australia

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee

Possible hearing date(s):

To be determined by the committee

Possible reporting date:

31 January 2020

Appendix 2

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee

Name of bill:

Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Amendment (Enhancing Australia's Anti-Doping Capability) Bill 2019

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

Stakeholders have raised concerns with the Opposition, mirrored in issues with this bill raised by the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills, relating to the impact of certain clauses on the individual rights of athletes.

Possible submissions or evidence from:

Australian Athletes Alliance, players associations of individual sports, Exercise and Sports Science Australia, ASADA, others.

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee

Possible hearing date(s):

Suggest similar or identical timeframes to the inquiry on the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority Amendment (Sport Integrity Australia) Bill 2019, which was referred by the Senate on 14 November following the recommendation in Selection of Bills Committee's Report No. 8 of 2019.

To be determined by the committee

Possible reporting date:

3 February 2020

Appendix 3

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee

Name of bill:

Migration Amendment (Regulation of Migration Agents) Bill 2019

Migration Agents Registration Application Charge Amendment (Rates of Charge) Bill 2019

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

To determine whether the Parliament of Australia should vote in favour of this bill in its current form (or in an amended form), having regard to the views of industry and other key stakeholders.

Possible submissions or evidence from:

Migration Institute of Australia, Law Council of Australia, key stakeholders from the migration agent sector, Australian Migration Citizenship Service and others.

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Legal and Constitutional Affairs

Possible hearing date(s):

To be determined by the committee

Possible reporting date:

27 March 2020

Appendix 4

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee

Name of bill:

Telecommunications (Regional Broadband Scheme) Charge Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Competition and Consumer) Bill

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

Complex levy that effectively proposes to introduce a broadband tax, and has been criticised by the Productivity Commission and the ACCC. Is a potential building block for privatisation.

Possible submissions or evidence from:

Department of Communications, Telstra, Optus, Vodafone, Vocus, TPG, Opticomm, ACCC, ACCAN and other Greenfield telecommunications providers.

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee

Possible hearing date(s):

To be determined by the committee

Possible reporting date:

21 February 2020

Appendix 5

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee

Name of Bill:

Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (Unsolicited Communications) Bill 2019

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

To assess impacts of the bill's operation

Possible submissions or evidence from:

Fundraising Institute of Australia; CHOICE; ACMA; TIO; AEC; COTA; National Seniors; ACCC; Digital Rights Watch; Communications Alliance

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Environment and Communications Committee

Possible hearing date(s):

TBA

Possible reporting date:

17 April 2020

Appendix 6

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee

Name of bill:

Transport Security Amendment (Serious Crime) Bill 2019

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

To ensure that the Bill sufficiently achieves its intent of addressing criminal activity at Australia's security controlled airports, security regulated seaports, and security regulated offshore oil and gas facilities.

Possible submissions or evidence from:

Department of Home Affairs;

Australian Federal Police;

Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission;

Australian Institute of Criminology;

Ports Australia;

Australian Airports Association and one or two Airport Corporations (eg Sydney, Melbourne);

APPEA and/or one or two offshore oil and gas facility operators (eg INPEX, BHP, Woodside);

Fair Work Ombudsman; and

One or two relevant employee Groups (eg The Australian and International Pilots Association and the Australian Services Union)

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Legal and Constitutional Affairs

Possible hearing date(s):

December 2019

Possible reporting date:

21/02/2020

Appendix 7

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee

Name of bill:

Treasury Laws Amendment (Your Superannuation, Your Choice) Bill 2019 Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

Potential impacts on worker's super balances. Potential defaults into underperforming funds.

Possible submissions or evidence from:

ISA, FSC, Treasury, ACTU, unions

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Senate Economics Legislation Committee

Possible hearing date(s):

To be determined by the Committee

Possible reporting date:

21 February 2020

I move:

That the report be adopted.

Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the report of the Selection of Bills Committee, specifically the Migration Amendment (Regulation of Migration Agents) Bill 2017 and the Migration Agents Registration Application Charge Amendment (Rates of Charge) Bill 2017. I rise to speak because at least one of the dates that was discussed at the committee meeting last night has been changed. I would like to put on the record why we made this decision and the absurdity that it underlines.

The opposition did seek to have a longer reporting date on both of these bills. Originally we proposed to have an inquiry into these bills run until later in March in order to give the committee more time to hold hearings and to thoroughly inspect these bills. This would allow for a proper inquiry process. We could seek submissions from key stakeholders, hold public hearings and give these pieces of legislation the attention that they deserve. This is the expectation of the community. We, the Senate, are the house of review and we should consider the laws we are passing. Senate committees, when given the time to inquire properly, can produce very productive and helpful reports; however, this was not the wish of those opposite. Rather than a significant committee inquiry, the government wanted to ram this legislation through. In the interests of cooperation, the opposition has agreed with the government to have this bill report on 18 March. This will allow the government to deal with the bill in late March in the Senate if they choose to do so.

Yet—and here is the kicker, the absurdity—the recommendations that have informed this piece of legislation were first made in 2014. A reminder to those listening: back in 2014, who was the Prime Minister? Tony Abbott. He was still the Prime Minister of Australia. The No. 1 song that year was that catchy tune 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams. Here is a sad reflection, I think, on the state of our society: they still made Coke Zero back in 2014. I don't know if the chamber agrees with me, but I really do feel like 'Coke no sugar' is a pale imitation.

Senator Dean Smith interjecting—

Thank you, Senator Smith, for your observation. However, back to the serious matters at hand: here we are, five years later, and it is laughable. In 2014 this government handed down a second set of recommendations in relation to the pieces of legislation that are currently before us. Five years ago, back when you could still drink Coke Zero, dance around to the song 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams and acknowledge Tony Abbott as the Prime Minister of this country, this government made a set of recommendations around migration agents. They didn't introduce them into legislation until 2017, then that legislation sat here on the Notice Paper in this Senate, not moved or acted upon by this government, and now suddenly they have this extreme urgency not to hold an inquiry but to ram it through a committee, to have a short reporting date, to get it done as fast as possible.

Let's understand here that this bill will make changes to how migration agents are registered—specifically, to how lawyers are registered as migration agents. Back several years ago, when this legislation was first moved, Labor did support it, but we do think it is right and proper that we have a thorough examination of this legislation. Things have changed. How do we know that they have changed? We know they have changed because we've had the Report of the inquiry into efficacy of current regulation of Australian migration and education agents.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Are you going to read us the report?

Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am going to read you a section of it, thank you, Senator Cormann. In this report, no less than the now minister, Jason Wood, said that there is 'exploitation' and that a 'loophole' is being exercised by 'organised crime' to come into this country by aeroplane and then seek to use the asylum process to access the Australian labour market. That is the observation of no less than the minister, Jason Wood. We think these laws deserve a proper inquiry, we are disappointed the government tried to ram them through and we look forward to the committee doing its work.

Question agreed to.