Senator Robert Ray to move on the next day of sitting:

(1)

That there be laid on the table, no later than Thursday, 19 October 2006, documents held by Telstra Corporation relating to shareholder attitude surveys conducted for the corporation by Crosby/Textor, including contracts between Telstra Corporation and Crosby/Textor and the results of such surveys, in regard to the impact on the performance of the corporation and its share price of telecommunications regulations and the Government’s intention to sell part or all of its Telstra shareholding.

(2)

That the contracts referred to in paragraph (1) may be provided to the Senate with any genuinely commercially-sensitive information deleted.

Senator Kemp to move on the next day of sitting:

That the following bill be introduced: A Bill for an Act to amend the Archives Act 1983, and for related purposes. Archives Amendment Bill 2006.

Senator Allison to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate—

(a)

congratulates Australian Professor Terence Tao for being the first Australian to be awarded the world’s most prestigious mathematics honour, the Fields Medal, which is considered to be the mathematics equivalent of a Nobel Prize;

(b)

notes the contribution of Professor Tao’s work to progressing understanding of partial differential equations, combinatorics, harmonic analysis and additive number theory;

(c)

trusts that the awarding of the prize will increase the profile of mathematics in Australia;

(d)

notes the remarks of the Minister for Education, Science and Training (Ms Bishop) that the lesson to be learnt from Professor Tao’s experience is the need for an effective early childhood learning environment; and

(e)

calls on the Government to remove the higher burden of the higher education contribution scheme debt applied to teachers of science and mathematics and work with the states to ensure:

(i)

public funding is available for high quality maths and science infrastructure in primary and secondary schools, and

(ii)

that teachers of mathematics and science have degree qualifications in these disciplines.

Senator Allison to move on 7 September 2006:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes that:

(i)

9 September 2006, is International Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders Awareness Day, and

(ii)

there is no cure for foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) but they are 100 per cent preventable;

(b)

recognises that:

(i)

those born with FASD have mild to profound, lifelong disabilities, usually intellectual developmental disorders, and

(ii)

early diagnosis can lead to better outcomes if services and programs are available to support children and families; and

(c)

calls on the Government to:

(i)

promote awareness of the effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol through warning labels on all alcohol products,

(ii)

reconsider recommendations in the document, National clinical guidelines for the management of drug use during pregnancy, birth and the early development years of the newborn, in relation to alcohol consumption during pregnancy given the compelling international evidence that mothers who drink even small amounts of alcohol during pregnancy could unwittingly harm their unborn children, and

(iii)

provide specific resources to help identify and support children who have FASD.

Senator Allison to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate—

(a)

calls on the Government to act on calls by Amnesty International, with respect to the 34 day war between Israel and the Lebanese-based Hezbollah militia, for:

(i)

the United Nations (UN) Security Council to immediately establish a comprehensive, independent and impartial inquiry into violations of international humanitarian law by both sides in the conflict, including violations which may amount to war crimes,

(ii)

justice proceedings in line with international standards of fair trial for any person against whom there is evidence of war crimes, and

(iii)

Israel to disclose maps of the areas of Lebanon into which it fired cluster bombs to enable the clearance of what the UN Mine Action Coordination Centre estimates to be 100 000 unexploded bomblets thereby preventing further civilian casualties;

(b)

notes that no map has yet been provided for the land mines planted by Israel in southern Lebanon in 1988 resulting in recent death and injury to Israeli military personnel;

(c)

urges the Government to also request that maps for the above-mentioned land mines are disclosed;

(d)

requests the Government to provide Lebanon with a small team of Australian munitions experts to assist in the removal of unexploded munitions;

(e)

notes that the current ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Lebanese-based Hezbollah includes no reference to the necessity to uphold requirements under international humanitarian law, namely the need to establish accountability for violations by both sides in the conflict;

(f)

urges the Government to remind the parties to the ceasefire agreement of the need to uphold international humanitarian law; and

(g)

calls on the Government to appeal to Israel to remove its blockade on Lebanon.

Senators Allison and Moore to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate—

(a)

recognises that:

(i)

a report from the United Nations Population Fund, State of the World Population 2006: A Passage to Hope, in relation to women and international migration, was released on 6 September 2006,

(ii)

women constitute almost half of all international migrants worldwide, that is 95 million or 49.6 per cent,

(iii)

in 2005, roughly half the world’s 12.7 million refugees were women,

(iv)

for many women, migration opens doors to a new world of greater equality and relief from oppression and discrimination that limit freedom and stunt potential,

(v)

in 2005 remittances by migrants to their country of origin were an estimated $US232 billion, larger than official development assistance and the second largest source of funding for developing countries after foreign direct investment,

(vi)

migrant women send a higher proportion of their earnings than men to families back home,

(vii)

migrant women often contribute to their home communities on their return, for instance through improved child health and lower mortality rates,

(viii)

the massive outflow of nurses, midwives and doctors from poorer to wealthier countries is creating health care crises in many of the poorer countries, exacerbated by massive health care needs such as very high rates of infectious disease,

(ix)

the intention to emigrate is especially high among health workers living in regions hardest hit by HIV/AIDS,

(x)

the rising demand for health care workers in richer countries because of their ageing populations will continue to pull such workers away from poorer countries,

(xi)

millions of female migrants face hazards ranging from the enslavement of trafficking to exploitation as domestic workers,

(xii)

the International Labour Organisation estimates that 2.45 million trafficking victims are toiling in exploitative conditions worldwide,

(xiii)

policies often discriminate against women and bar them from migrating legally, forcing them to work in sectors which render them more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse,

(xiv)

domestic workers, because of the private nature of their work, may be put in gross jeopardy through being assaulted, raped, overworked, denied pay, rest days, privacy and access to medical services, verbally or psychologically abused, or having their passports withheld,

(xv)

when armed conflict erupts, armed militias often target women and girls for rape, leaving many to contend with unwanted pregnancies, HIV infection, and reproductive illnesses and injury,

(xvi)

at any given time, 25 per cent of refugee women of child-bearing age are pregnant,

(xvii)

for refugees fleeing conflict, certain groups of women such as those who head households, ex-combatants, the elderly, disabled, widows, young mothers and unaccompanied adolescent girls, are more vulnerable and require special protection and support,

(xviii)

people should not be compelled to migrate because of inequality, insecurity, exclusion and limited opportunities in their home countries, and

(xix)

human rights of all migrants, including women, must be respected; and

(b)

encourages:

(i)

governments and multilateral institutions to establish, implement and enforce policies and measures that will protect migrant women from exploitation and abuse, and

(ii)

all efforts that help reduce poverty, bring about gender equality and enhance development, thereby reducing the ‘push’ factors that compel many migrants, particularly women, to leave their own countries, and at the same time helping achieve a more orderly migration program.

Senators Stott Despoja and Kemp to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes the death of Colin Thiele, a children’s writer from South Australia;

(b)

recognises that Mr Thiele helped form children’s respect and love for the Australian landscape as well as telling good stories; and

(c)

notes that Mr Thiele loved writing for children and did a great deal to continue a very fine tradition of Australian writing for the young.

Senator Payne to move on the next day of sitting:

That the time for the presentation of the report of the Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee on the examination of annual reports tabled by 30 April 2006 be extended to 7 September 2006.

Senator Milne to move on the next day of sitting:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes:

(i)

that according to the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, August 2006 was the driest month in 106 years,

(ii)

the comments of the head of the Bureau of Meteorology’s National Climate Centre, Dr Michael Coughlan, on 4 September 2006, about the downward trend in rainfall and the upward trend in temperatures that ‘it’s very hard to find some other reason other than global warming for what is causing this’,

(iii)

the comment of eminent scientist, winner of the Prime Minister’s 2001 Environmentalist of the Year prize and member of the National Water Commission, Professor Peter Cullen, on 4 September 2006, that climate change is affecting Australia faster than he anticipated, and

(iv)

the comments by the Prime Minister (Mr Howard) on 28 August 2006 that ‘I accept the broad theory about global warming. I am sceptical about a lot of the more gloomy predictions’; and

(b)

calls on the Prime Minister to acknowledge the urgency of action to address climate change and to start by setting national greenhouse gas emission targets.