Senate debates
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
- National Fuelwatch (Empowering Consumers) Bill 2008; National Fuelwatch (Empowering Consumers) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2008 (0 speeches)
- Second Reading (54 speeches)
Debate resumed from 11 November, on motion by Senator Faulkner: That these bills be now read a second time.
- Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws — General Law Reform) Bill 2008 (0 speeches)
- Second Reading (5 speeches)
Debate resumed from 24 September, on motion by Senator McLucas: That this bill be now read a second time.
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Community Affairs Committee; Meeting (1 speech)
by leave—At the request of the Chair of the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs, Senator Moore, I move: That the Community Affairs Committee be authorised to hold a private...
- Matters of Public Interest (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
Order! It being 12.45 pm, I call on matters of public interest.
- Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder Project (1 speech)
I rise in this matters of public interest debate to pass some comments on a project much favoured by the current Australian government: the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder project....
- Gene Patents (1 speech)
I rise to thank the Senate for its generosity in agreeing to an inquiry into the impact of gene patents on the provision of health care in Australia. I rise also to promote public debate and...
- Workplace Relations (1 speech)
I would like today to address the issues of what workers are saying they need from Forward with Fairness and the change to the industrial relations laws. I want to tell the stories of workers...
- Bankruptcy Laws (1 speech)
I rise today on a matter of public interest concerning the failure of the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Turnbull, to remotely comprehend the damage that would flow to Australia from the...
- Remembrance Day (1 speech)
I rise today, the day after the 90th anniversary of Armistice Day, and I ask the same question that many would have asked on the day after the first Armistice Day: what do we do now? What can we...
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Automotive Industry (29 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Carr. I refer to the minister’s answer yesterday where he claimed that the government had letters from...
- Distinguished Visitors (0 speeches)
- (4 speeches)
Order! I draw the attention of honourable senators to the presence in the chamber of a parliamentary delegation from the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. On behalf of all senators, I wish you a...
- Questions without Notice (0 speeches)
- Automotive Industry (2 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Carr. Can the minister assure the Senate that the government’s New Car Plan for a Greener Future is...
- Economy (13 speeches)
My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Conroy. Will the minister confirm that talks between Australia’s banks, the government and car dealers aimed at fixing the...
- Traveston Crossing Dam (6 speeches)
My question goes, with some notice, to the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. It regards the Traveston Dam. I ask: is it true that earthworks are...
- Emissions Trading Scheme (4 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Wong. I refer the minister to Alcoa’s announcement yesterday that they are halting their planned $3 billion expansion of...
- Economy (4 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law, Senator Sherry. Can the minister please update the Senate on how Australia’s regulators are responding to the challenges...
- Emissions Trading Scheme (8 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Wong. Will the minister please explain why it is that the Treasury modelling for the proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction...
- Mr Harry Nicolaides (2 speeches, 1 comment)
My question is to the Special Minister of State, representing the Minister for Foreign Affairs. I refer to the arrest and incarceration in Thailand of the Australian citizen, journalist and...
- Mr David Epstein (7 speeches)
My question is to the Special Minister of State, Senator Faulkner. Paragraph 7.2 of your government’s so-called Lobbying Code of Conduct quite clearly states: Persons … employed in...
- Emissions Trading Scheme (3 speeches)
My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Water, Senator Wong. Can the minister update the Senate on the outcomes of the recently released climate change modelling by Treasury that...
- Questions without Notice: Additional Answers (0 speeches)
- Young Carers Forum (1 speech)
I seek leave to incorporate in the Hansard an answer to a question asked by Senator Barnett of me, representing the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs on 16...
- Emissions Trading Scheme (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
I seek leave to table the media release of Nyrstar of 12 November 2008. Leave granted.
- Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers (0 speeches)
- Emissions Trading Scheme (5 speeches)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Minister for Climate Change and Water (Senator Wong) to questions without notice asked by Senators Johnston, Birmingham and Cameron...
- Traveston Crossing Dam (1 speech)
I move: That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Climate Change and Water (Senator Wong) to a question without notice asked by Senator Bob Brown today relating to the...
- Petitions (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
The Clerk: A petition has been lodged for presentation as follows:
- Notices (0 speeches)
- Presentation (0 speeches)
Senator Crossin to move on the next day of sitting:That the exposure draft of the Personal Property Securities Bill 2008 be referred to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee for inquiry...
- Postponement (0 speeches)
The following item of business was postponed: General business notice of motion no. 272 standing in the name of Senator Ludlam for today, relating to the National Rental Affordability Scheme,...
- Business (0 speeches)
- Days and Hours of Meeting (3 speeches)
I move: That the days of meeting of the Senate for 2009 be as follows:Autumn sittings:Tuesday, 3 February to Thursday, 5 FebruaryMonday, 23 February to Thursday, 26 FebruaryTuesday, 10 March to...
- Budget (0 speeches)
- Consideration by Estimates Committees; Meeting (1 speech)
I move:(1)That estimates hearings by standing committees for 2009 be scheduled as follows:2008-09 additional estimates:Monday, 9 February and Tuesday, 10 February 2009, and, if required, Friday,...
- Australian National Academy of Music (0 speeches)
- (2 speeches)
I, and also on behalf of Senator Milne, move:That the Senate—(a)notes the importance of the Australian National Academy of Music as a unique institution for the cultivation of...
- National Skin Cancer Action Week (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
I move:That the Senate—(a)notes that:(i)the week beginning 16 November 2008 is National Skin Cancer Action Week,(ii)Australia has the highest incidence of skin cancer in the...
- Uranium Exports (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
I move:That the Senate—(a)notes the uranium study conducted by NewsPoll for the Australian Conservation Foundation over the weekend of 1 November and 2 November 2008, which shows...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Procedure Committee; Report (1 speech)
I present the third report of 2008 of the Procedure Committee. Ordered that the report be printed. by leave—I move: That consideration of the report be made a business of the Senate order...
- Scrutiny of Bills Committee; Report (1 speech)
I present the 12th report of 2008 of the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills. I also lay on the table Scrutiny of Bills Alert Digest No. 12 of 2008, dated 12 November 2008....
- Ministerial Statements (0 speeches)
- Global Food Security (1 speech)
On behalf of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Mr Burke, I table a ministerial statement relating to global food security.
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Family Law Amendment (De Facto Financial Matters and Other Measures) Bill 2008; Offshore Petroleum Amendment (Greenhouse Gas Storage) Bill 2008 (0 speeches)
- Safe Work Australia Bill 2008 (0 speeches)
- Consideration of House of Representatives Message (0 speeches)
Message received from the House of Representatives returning the Safe Work Australia Bill 2008, informing the Senate that the House insists on disagreeing to the amendments made and insisted on...
- Tax Laws Amendment (Education Refund) Bill 2008; Transport Security Amendment (2008 Measures No. 1) Bill 2008; Customs Amendment (Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2008; Customs Tariff Amendment (Australia-Chile Free Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2008 (0 speeches)
- First Reading (1 speech)
Bills received from the House of Representatives.
- Second Reading (1 speech)
I move: That these bills be now read a second time. I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard. Leave granted. The speeches read as follows— TAX LAWS AMENDMENT...
- Committees (0 speeches)
- Economics Committee; Report (1 speech)
I present the report of the Senate Standing Committee on Economics Lost in Space? Setting a new direction for Australia’s space science and industry sector, together with the Hansard record...
- Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws — General Law Reform) Bill 2008 (0 speeches)
- Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws — Superannuation) Bill 2008 (0 speeches)
- (0 speeches)
Consideration resumed from 15 October.
- In Committee (81 speeches, 1 comment)
Bill—by leave—taken as a whole.
- Same-Sex Relationships (Equal Treatment in Commonwealth Laws — General Law Reform) Bill 2008 (0 speeches)
- (0 speeches)
Consideration resumed.
- In Committee (12 speeches)
Bill—by leave—taken as a whole.
- Documents (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
Order! It being 6.55 pm, the Senate will proceed to the consideration of government documents.
- Consideration (0 speeches)
The following government documents were considered: National Security Information (Criminal and Civil Proceedings) Act 2004Non-disclosure and witness exclusion certificates—Report for...
- Adjournment (0 speeches)
- (1 speech)
Order! It being 6.57 pm, I propose the question: That the Senate do now adjourn.
- Water (1 speech)
Tonight I want to talk about one of the greatest issues facing our nation—the ongoing drought and the resulting critical water shortage in some parts of Australia. In particular, I want to...
- Inpex Browse Basin Gas Project (1 speech)
My comments today relate to how an incompetent former state Labor government in Western Australia managed to effectively destroy an LNG export project that would have brought massive economic and...
- Tasmania: Multiculturalism (1 speech)
For most, mention of my home state of Tasmania invokes a sense of rolling hills, a rugged coastline and pristine water. Indeed, Tasmania is renowned most for its landscape, its beautiful physical...
- Documents (0 speeches)
- Tabling (0 speeches)
The following government documents were tabled: Australian Fair Pay Commission—Report for 2007-08. Australian Fair Pay Commission Secretariat—Report for 2007-08. Cotton Research and...
