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

I give notice that, on the next day of sitting, I shall move:

That the provisions of paragraphs (5) to (8) of standing order 111 not apply to the following bills, allowing them to be considered during this period of sittings: the COVID-19 Disaster Payment (Funding Arrangements) Bill 2021, the Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Amendment Bill 2021, the Telecommunications Legislation Amendment (International Production Orders) Bill 2020, and the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response) Bill 2021.

I also table statements of reasons justifying the need for these bills to be considered during these sittings and seek leave to have the statements incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The state ment s read as follows—

COVID-19 DISASTER PAYMENT (FUNDING ARRANGEMENTS) BILL

Purpose of the Bill

The purpose of the bill is to introduce a special appropriation for the COVID-19 Disaster Payment, which has recently been established as a program under Schedule 1AB of the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997.

The bill also requires the National Resilience and Recovery Agency, who will be responsible for disaster recovery from 1 July 2021, to include information in its annual report relating to the COVID-19 Disaster Payment for each financial year.

Reasons for Urgency

The bill requires urgent passage in the 2021 Winter sittings for the special appropriation for the COVID-19 Disaster Payment to be available on 1 July 2021 for the entire 2021-22 financial year. The payment is currently being paid as part of annual appropriations, but a special appropriation is the most suitable mechanism to fund the payment as it is a demand driven program where an entitlement to a payment is triggered by meeting qualification criteria. There is uncertainty as to when this one-off and time-limited payment may be required into the future as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning that the expenditure associated with the COVID-19 Disaster Payment cannot be reliably approximated for the purpose of an annual appropriation. Introducing a special appropriation means that the Commonwealth Government has secure funding for all persons who qualify for the COVID 19 Disaster Payment.

HAZARDOUS WASTE (REGULATION OF EXPORTS AND IMPORTS) AMENDMENT BILL 2021

Purpose of the Bill

The Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Amendment Bill 2021 (Bill) would amend the Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989 (Hazardous Waste Act) to implement amendments to the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (Basel Convention).

The amendments to the Basel Convention strengthen transboundary controls of unsorted plastic wastes and plastic wastes containing hazardous substances.

The Bill would also update and modernise the Act, including the compliance and enforcement framework, to reduce complexity and improve its operation, while ensuring the standard of environmental protection remains high.

Reasons for Urgency

The amendments to the Basel Convention, which strengthen the controls of unsorted plastic wastes and plastic wastes containing hazardous substances, came into force for Australia on 1 January 2021. Passage of the Bill is necessary to meet Australia's international obligations to control these plastics in accordance with the Basel Convention.

In addition, these changes have been implemented by Australia's major trading partners. Therefore, Australian exporters of plastic waste are currently subject to different regulatory requirements than those in importing countries. Passage of the Bill is necessary to ensure consistent regulation with trading partners, which will reduce confusion for Australian exporters and their suppliers and minimise illegal exports of hazardous waste.

THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTION ORDERS) BILL 2021

Purpose of the Bill

The Bill creates an international production order (IPO) framework to enable Australian law enforcement agencies and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) to obtain electronic data directly from communications service providers in foreign countries, and to permit Australian communications service providers to disclose electronic data to a foreign countries, where there is a designated international agreement in place.

Reasons for urgency

The Bill requires urgent passage in the 2021 Winter sittings to enable Australia to finalise and implement a bilateral cross-border access to data agreement with the United States (commonly referred to as the AUS-US CLOUD Act Agreement).

An AUS-US CLOUD Act Agreement will significantly reduce the time it takes for Australia's law enforcement agencies and ASIO to access electronic data held by designated communication providers in the United States, which is critical to their ability to prevent, detect, investigate and prosecute serious crime, including terrorism.

The Bill will give effect to this agreement as well as other future bilateral and multilateral agreements, and contains the amendments required to Australia's domestic legislation to comply with the requirements under the United States' CLOUD Act. The United States Government has advised that it will not be in a position to sign a CLOUD Act Agreement with Australia until these legislative amendments are passed. Passage of the Bill during the Winter Sittings would enable the CLOUD Act Agreement to be signed by the end of the year and become operational in 2022.

TREASURY LAWS AMENDMENT (COVID-19 ECONOMIC RESPONSE) BILL

Purpose of the Bill

The purpose of the Bill is to:

• extend the income tax exemption for eligible State and Territory COVID-19 economic recovery grant programs to the grant payments also received in the 2021-22 financial year; and

• make amendments to tax secrecy provisions to allow tax information to be disclosed to Services Australia for the purposes of administering the COVID-19 Disaster Payment.

Reasons for Urgency

Introduction and passage of the Bill as soon as possible is required to provide certainty to businesses affected by COVID-19 and enhance integrity of the COVID 19 disaster recovery payment.

I give notice, in general terms, under standing order 76(6) of my intention to give a notice of motion for the next day of sitting relating to the resetting of formal business processes, in accordance with the note circulated to senators today.