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

I present the third report of 2019 of the Selection of Bills Committee. I seek leave to have the report incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The report read as follows—

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

Report no. 3 of 2019

1. The committee met in private session on Wednesday, 24 July 2019 at 7.17 pm.

2. The committee recommends that—

a) the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Amendment (Assisted Reproductive Treatment Statistics) Bill 2019 be referred immediately to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 11 November 2019 (see appendix 1 for a statement of reasons for referral);

b) the provisions of the Treasury Laws Amendment (2019 Tax Integrity and Other Measures No. 1) Bill 2019 be referred immediately to the Economics Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 5 September 2019 (see appendix 2 for a statement of reasons for referral).

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

  Passenger Movement Charge Amendment (Timor Sea Maritime Boundaries Treaty) Bill 2019

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

  National Sports Tribunal (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2019

  Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage (Regulatory Levies) Amendment Bill 2019

5. The committee considered the following bills but was unable to reach agreement:

(see appendix 3, 4, 5 and 6 for statements of reasons for referrals).

Dean Smith

Chair

25 July 2019

Appendix 1

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee:

Name of bill:

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Amendment (Assisted Reproductive Treatment Statistics) Bill 2019

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

To assess operation of proposed reforms; to assess other factors that influence success rates such as selection criteria imposed by IVF clinics

Possible submissions or evidence from:

AIHW

Fertility Society of Australia

IVF Directors

Individual fertility clinics

Specialists including Dr Rob Norman and Dr Richard Henshaw

Embryo Donation Network

National Perinatal Epidemiology and Statistics Unit and ANZARD team at UNSW

VARTA

Vic Health Complaints Commissioner

ACCC

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Community Affairs

Possible hearing date( s):

As determined by committee

Possible reporting date:

11 November 2019

Appendix 2

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee:

Name of bill:

Treasury Laws Amendment (2019 Tax Integrity and Other Measures No. 1) Bill 2019

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

To consider the detail and implementation arrangements of the measures.

Possible submissions or evidence from:

Treasury, ATO

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:

5 September 2019

Appendix 3

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee:

Name of bill:

Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment (Sunsetting of Special Powers Relating to Terrorism Offences) Bill 2019

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

Human rights concerns

Possible submissions or evidence from:

Human rights and legal experts and stakeholders

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Legal and Constitutional Affairs

Possible hearing date( s):

October 3-4

Possible reporting date:

October 17

Appendix 4

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee:

Name of bill:

Counter-Terrorism (Temporary Exclusion Orders) Bill 2019; Counter-Terrorism

(Temporary Exclusion Orders) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2019

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

to ensure bill adheres to international human rights and security obligations.

Possible submissions or evidence from:

United Nations, Human Rights Law Centre

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee

Possible hearing date( s):

8-9 August 2019

Possible reporting date:

9 September 2019

Appendix 5

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee:

Name of bill:

Crimes Legislation Amendment (Police Powers at Airports) Bill 2019

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

Human rights concerns – could lead to racial profiling and police state enforcement. Despite civilians not being required to carry identification, this bill will empower law enforcement officers to eject from airports, ban from flights, fine, or even imprison civilians – travelers or otherwise – if they are unable to produce identification when demanded. Offices may demand identification from civilians if he/she "suspects … that the person has committed, is committing, or intends to commit an offence [or] considers on reasonable grounds that it is necessary … to safeguard aviation security". This could lead to situations like "Operation Fortitude" a multi-agency operation in 2015 that saw the ABF, police, and transport officers using racial profiling to do random spot-checks on visas (despite there being now requirement for visa holders to be carrying those documents on their person)

Possible submissions or evidence from:

legal and human rights experts and advocates such as The Law Council of Australia, Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, Australian Human Rights Commission, and Civil Liberties Australia.

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee

Possible hearing date( s):

14-16 August

Possible reporting date:

12 September 2019

Appendix 6

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee:

Name of bill:

Migration Amendment (Streamlining Visa Processing) Bill 2019

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

Human rights concerns, as it will discriminate against particular cohorts of applicants.

Possible submissions or evidence from:

legal and human rights experts and advocates such as The Law Council of Australia, and the Human Rights Law Centre.

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee

Possible hearing date( s):

5-6 September 2019

Possible reporting date:

14 October 2019

I move:

That the report be adopted.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

At the end of the motion, add "and the following bills not be referred to committees:

  Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Amendment (Sunsetting of Special Powers Relating to Terrorism Offences) Bill 2019

  Counter-Terrorism (Temporary Exclusion Orders) Bill 2019

  Counter-Terrorism (Temporary Exclusion Orders) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2019

  Crimes Legislation Amendment (Police Powers at Airports) Bill 2019

  Migration Amendment (Streamlining Visa Processing) Bill 2019".

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to inform the chamber that Labor will be supporting the government's amendments. We believe that these bills have been adequately inquired into during the last parliament, and we need to get on with the job of making Australians safe and protecting our national security. We can certainly debate the merits of these bills when they're brought before the Senate, but they should not be delayed any further.

I also foreshadow that I will be moving another amendment to refer one other bill. The terms of that proposed referral are circulated in the chamber.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Here we go again. The ongoing march towards a police state is alive and well in this place. Again, for legislation, including some that we're currently debating—the temporary exclusion order regime—which sets up Minister Dutton or any future Minister for Home Affairs as judge and jury, and which undermines the rule of law in this country, the Senate is being prevented by the government from conducting an inquiry into that legislation and the consequential amendment legislation which is attached to it.

Again, with the sunsetting of powers legislation, I want to place on the record that what that legislation does is to extend a previously agreed-to sunsetting of the power of the government to throw someone in the slammer for up to a week without charging them. What the government are doing here is absolutely outrageous. They're preventing the Senate from doing its job, they're preventing transparency and they're jamming through draconian legislation that marches us yet further down the road to a police state, yet further down the road to a surveillance state and yet further down the road to an authoritarian state.

When will you people ever be happy? When you pass laws saying we can't get out of the bed in the morning because we might slip over? Seriously, this is a debate about the balance between freedoms and liberties on one hand and making our community safer on the other hand, and you don't want to let the Senate have that debate properly. You just want to jam this stuff through because it suits your short-term political agenda to do so. Well, as I said yesterday, the Australian Greens are not going to lie down on this stuff, because someone has to come in here and fight for freedoms and liberties as so many Australian Defence Force personnel, including family members of mine, have done for so many decades in this country. Tragically, many of them, including at least one of my immediate family, have died to defend these freedoms and liberties that you come in here and give away and prevent the Senate from scrutinising adequately.

I'm going to use the f-word again: you're a bunch of fascists. You're a bunch of fascists in this place. You torture innocent people in offshore prisons. That's been going on for six years. You trample over the fundamental rights and freedoms of Australians. You're turning this country into a police state. I'm warning you that the social contract between the people and the parliament is becoming ever more strained, and it's because you are removing rights without adequate scrutiny. It's because you won't take strong action on the climate emergency. It's because of massive wealth and wage inequality in this country. If you look at the collapse of civilisations throughout human history, there are two common factors: environmental degradation and massive wealth inequality. Well, hello! Welcome to the 21st century! You ignore the diminishing of the social contract that underpins law and order in this country at your peril. Ignore it at your peril. Civil disobedience will now rise and continue to rise. While you guys are all rich and wealthy enough to avoid the personal consequences of it, there are many Australians who are not so lucky.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the amendment moved by Senator Duniam be agreed to.

Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move the amendment circulated in my name in the chamber:

At the end of the motion, add: "but, in respect of the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Streamlined Governance) Bill 2019, contingent upon introduction in the Senate, the bill be referred immediately to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 6 September 2019."

Question agreed to.

Original question, as amended, agreed to.