Senator Cormann to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate—

(a)

Notes that:

1)   the Minister for Health and Ageing told the House of Representatives on 29 October 2009, that the Government had legal advice that the Health Insurance Amendment (Revival of Table Items) Bill 2009 was unconstitutional, that it should not have been introduced in the Senate and had not been appropriately passed,

2)   the Minister also told the House of Representatives that the Government was “happy to provide that legal advice” (9.59am, 29/10/2009),

3)   on 17 November the Senate ordered “that there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing in the Senate, by no later than 5pm on 17 November 2009, a copy of the legal advice referred to by the Minister on 29 October 2009, indicating that the Health Insurance Amendment (Revival of Table Items) Bill 2009 was unconstitutional” under section 53 of the Constitution,

4)   in response, on 18 November the Minister for Health and Ageing tabled a letter stating that the legal advice would not be provided to the Senate on the grounds that it could “prejudice the Commonwealth’s position in the event of future legal proceedings”, and

5)   advice from the Clerk of the Senate makes it clear that section 53 of the Constitution is non-justiciable and “[t]herefore there cannot be any legal proceedings which might be prejudiced by disclosure of advice to the government on its interpretation of section 53”.

(b)

Considers that release of a copy of the legal advice referred to by the Minister on 29 October 2009 is in the public interest.

(c)

Orders that there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing in the Senate, by no later than 12pm on 24 November 2009, a copy of the legal advice referred to by the Minister on 29 October 2009, indicating that the Health Insurance Amendment (Revival of Table Items) Bill 2009 was unconstitutional.

Senator Mason to move on the next day of sitting:

That the time for the presentation of the report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services on financial products and services in Australia be extended to 24 November 2009.

Senators Siewert and Macdonald to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes the significant disease threat posed by the introduced species Phytophthora cinnamomi to ecological communities across Australia;

(b)

expresses disappointment with the lack of effective action at the national level to address the scale of this threat; and

(c)

calls on the Commonwealth Government to:

(i)

develop an effective national threat abatement plan including specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound goals, objectives and actions, and

(ii)

negotiate on the basis of this plan with state and territory agencies and land managers to leverage the resources, commitments and expertise needed to deliver its outcomes.

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

That the Senate deplores the use of overseas tax havens.

Senator Fisher to move on the next day of sitting:

That the time for the presentation of the report of the Select Committee on the National Broadband Network be extended to 25 November 2009.

Senator Fisher to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Select Committee on the National Broadband Network be authorised to hold a private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 33(1) during the sitting of the Senate on Monday, 23 November 2009, from 3.30 pm.

Senator Milne to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientists have warned that Australia will experience more high fire danger days as a result of climate change,

(ii)

three Australian states are on high fire danger alert and record high temperatures are being recorded for November 2009 in several Australian cities and towns including Adelaide,

(iii)

a government report in 2005 said that no single state or territory is likely to have the human and material resources required to resolve a catastrophic event, and

(iv)

Emergency Management Australia, the national coordination unit for operational responses to disasters:

(a)

was not called in on Black Saturday in Victoria, and

(b)

did not ask the Department of Defence or Defence Imaging to track the Victorian fires because no request to do so was made from Victoria; and

(b)

calls on the Government immediately to:

(i)

develop and implement a nation disaster response plan,

(ii)

appoint the operational fire chiefs from each state and territory to Emergency Management Australia,

(iii)

reverse the onus so that the Commonwealth has the power to oversee a national disaster and to intervene without having to wait for a state to request such assistance, and

(iv)

implement the remaining recommendations of the 2005 Commonwealth report into national disaster readiness.

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

That the Senate, noting the recent deportation of journalists and environmentalists from Indonesia for highlighting widespread deforestation in that country, supports the right of people to peacefully protest against climate damaging deforestation around the world and the right of journalists to cover such protests.

Senator Trood to move on the next day of sitting:

That the report of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee on its inquiry into security challenges facing Papua New Guinea and the island states of the southwest Pacific be presented by 24 December 2009.