The SPEAKER ( Ms Anna Burke ) took the chair at 9:00, made an acknowledgement of country and read prayers.
Defence Trade Controls Bill 2011
National Gambling Reform Bill 2012
That this bill be now read a second time.
National Gambling Reform (Related Matters) Bill (No. 1) 2012
That this bill be now read a second time.
National Gambling Reform (Related Matters) Bill (No. 2) 2012
That this bill be now read a second time.
Customs Amendment (Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation and Other Measures) Bill 2012
That this bill be now read a second time.
Customs Tariff Amendment (Malaysia-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation) Bill 2012
That this bill be now read a second time.
That the House take note of the report.
That the order of the day be referred to the Federation Chamber for debate.
That, in accordance with the provisions of the Public Works Committee Act 1969, and by reason of the urgent nature of the works, it is expedient that the following work be carried out without having been referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works: Preliminary works to establish a Regional Processing Centre on Nauru.
Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Bill 2012
That the amendments be agreed to.
Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Bill 2012
That the amendments be agreed to.
That the program of sittings for 2013 be agreed to.
Well I'm not the one who said there's a minimum five-year period in place. That's what Mr Morrison has said.
Fair Work Amendment (Transfer of Business) Bill 2012
… have reinstated the concepts which caused so many difficulties for industry in the late 1990s, prior to a number of High Court and Full Federal Court decisions—
As currently enacted, the transfer of business laws are operating against the interests of both employers and employees. The laws result in a lose-lose-lose scenario where operations are outsourced. Client companies lose because they need to make employees redundant when outsourcing occurs. Companies who take on outsourced work lose because they cannot access the valuable skills possessed by their clients’ employees. Employees lose because their jobs disappear along with their continuity of service for long service leave and other entitlements.
In outsourcing arrangements, the transfer of skilled employees who have knowledge of client systems and infrastructure is often strongly supported by both clients and service providers to facilitate a successful delivery of the outsourced services. Indeed many companies have built their businesses on the engagement of their clients’ employees. However, the transfer of business laws now provide a major deterrent to the employment by the service provider of any of the client’s employees.
Consider the case of a software consultancy firm providing outsourced IT services to a Government, a mining company, an airline and a steel manufacturing company, amongst other clients. The software company no doubt has very different employment conditions to those which apply to these four client companies. Most software companies employ staff on common law contracts, in contrast with other industries where enterprise agreements are common. The transfer of business laws expose companies involved in outsourcing to transferable instruments becoming binding upon their operations for both transferring employees and non-transferring employees.
Accordingly, the laws ensure that companies will make every effort to avoid employing any employees of their clients.
The move is part of a political strategy by the federal government to stoke voter backlash against big job cuts by the Coalition governments of Campbell Newman in Queensland and Barry O'Farrell in NSW, which are cutting spending because of weaker tax revenue.
The Queensland LNP government said last week it would shift about $500 million worth of government contracts and services from the public to the private sector as part of its attempts to return the budget to surplus in 2013-14.
It would force private companies taking on retrenched hospital cleaners, canteen operators and other staff in the same role to match their public sector conditions—
hindering state governments' ability to reduce the cost of such services.
A person fired from their job after it was outsourced would receive the same payout as a government employee.
It’s unrealistic for any government to expect a private sector employer to continue the often highly restrictive and inflexible workplace arrangements that have been negotiated under state government enterprise bargaining agreements when they take over state government contracts or services.
It's as if Shorten wants to pretend that Australia is emerging from a war and that protection of privileged union-controlled public-sector employment is the way to prosperity.
… … …
… to "respect the rights of state and territory governments to conduct their own administrations" is patently insincere. His intention is to foil the need to properly administer their workforce to the satisfaction of taxpayers.
Employer evidence suggests the changes to the former transmission provisions make it less, not more, likely that a purchaser would keep existing employees. This is because the changes make it difficult for a purchaser to restructure the business, including altering inefficient work practices.
The Gillard Government will not stand idly by and let the Liberal State Governments cut wages and conditions by stealth.
Bill Shorten not only delivered the Ben Chifley oration on the weekend, he wants to bring back Chifley-like policy. How else to explain his extraordinary intervention to save state public servants' entitlements if, and when, their jobs are outsourced by the Queensland government?
Chifley, for example, started the Commonwealth Employment Service in 1946 to provide for 'the re-establishment in civil life of members of the forces'.
It's as if Shorten wants to pretend that Australia is emerging from a war and that protection of privileged union-controlled public-sector employment is the way to prosperity.
Shorten wants to protect state public service entitlements where a state government outsources work or sells assets to private-sector employers by introducing an amendment to the Fair Work Act.
… I respect the job that they're doing, I work closely with them as far as I can, but they are dealing with their problems at the state level …
… I will seek to deal with federal problems at our levels.
The Panel considers there is a clear need to protect employees in a transfer of business situations. The alternative is to allow employees to be exploited by the structuring of businesses and contracting arrangements. On the basis of stakeholder submissions, academic advice at face-to-face consultations, analysis of cases under the provisions and an examination of the provisions themselves, the broader legislative definition succeeds in providing better protections for employees than the previous arrangements did.
The House divided. [12:09]
(The Speaker—Ms Anna Burke)
The House divided. [12:26]
(The Speaker—Ms Anna Burke)
That this bill be now read a third time.
That the following order of the day, private Members' business, be returned to the House for further consideration:
No. 15—Surf Lifesaving
That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the following items of private Member's business being called on, and considered immediately:
Non-Government Schools—Order of the day No. 4
Newstart Payments—Order of the day No. 7
Surf Lifesaving—Order of the day No. 15
That all words after “House” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:
“calls on all parliamentarians to endorse the principles contained in the final report of the Gonski Review of Funding for Schooling.”
The House divided [12:42]
(The Speaker—Ms Anna Burke)
That paragraph (5) be omitted.
That order of the day No. 4, government business, be postponed until a later hour this day.
Personal Liability for Corporate Fault Reform Bill 2012
The Advisory Committee is concerned about the practice in some statutes of treating directors or other corporate officers as personally liable for misconduct by their company unless they can make out a relevant defence. Provisions of this kind are objectionable in principle and unfairly discriminate against corporate personnel compared with the way in which other people are treated under the law.
1. Where a corporation contravenes a statutory requirement, the corporation should be held liable in the first instance.
2. Directors should not be liable for corporate fault as a matter of course or by blanket imposition of liability across an entire Act.
3. A "designated officer" approach to liability is not suitable for general application.
4. The imposition of personal criminal liability on a director for the misconduct of a corporation should be confined to situations where:
a. there are compelling public policy reasons for doing so (e.g. in terms of the potential for significant public harm that might be caused by the particular corporate offending);
b. liability of the corporation is not likely on its own to sufficiently promote compliance; and
c. it is reasonable in all the circumstances for the director to be liable having regard to factors including:
i. the obligation on the corporation, and in turn the director, is clear;
ii. the director has the capacity to influence the conduct of the corporation in relation to the offending; and
iii. there are steps that a reasonable director might take to ensure a corporation's compliance with the legislative obligation.
That this bill be now read a third time.
Migration Amendment (Reform of Employer Sanctions) Bill 2012
Overall, it is imperative that the cost of doing business is balanced appropriately against the cost of ensuring compliance with migration laws.
Rather the proposed changes will impact the unintended targets, i.e. good employers and labour suppliers. It is unfair that these persons be subject to high regulatory burdens because of the illegal practices of a very small few.
wholly ineffective as a deterrent against the small number of employers and labour suppliers who engage or refer non-citizens who do not have lawful permission to work or who work in breach of their visa conditions.
The Employer Sanctions provisions are also ineffective as an educational tool for recalcitrant employers and labour suppliers.
… Banksia looked and acted like a bank. The company sold debentures … both for fixed terms and at call.
This collapse has placed many individual and community investments at risk and the Government must re-assess and enforce restrictions on the non-APRA-regulated sector to provide better transparency and protection for the Australian community.
Life is full of meaning now which once it lacked.
That further statements by indulgence in relation to the award of a Victoria Cross to Corporal Daniel Keighran be permitted in the Federation Chamber.
… one of the foundations of growth in the 21st century is putting a price on carbon …
For the latest tutorial on lousy tax policy, cast your eyes down—way down—to Australia, where the country's windfall mining tax has produced … zero revenue in its first three months.
… … …
This is what happens when government tries to raid business to fill a budget hole, rather than lower taxes to promote economic growth …
The fact is that unused royalties are not transferrable, nor are they creditable.
All State and Territory royalties will be creditable against the resources tax liability … Any royalties paid and not claimed as a credit will be carried forward …
I will leave the nasty personal politics to the Labor Party. I predict that we will see a lot more of that in the months leading up to the next election, but I am going to focus every day on what matters to the Australian people and that is sensible, careful, responsible change that will give them a stronger economy and a more cohesive society.
Mr Blewitt said the defamation action was vital to silence dissenters because if they had succeeded in ousting him the slush fund … would have been exposed …
Mr Blewitt said the defamation action was vital to silence dissenters because if they had succeeded in ousting him the slush fund … would have been exposed …
… if a person is aware of a serious crime and doesn't report it to the police, that is what we call misprision of a felony; if there is a felony, you have to report it, it is a citizen's duty.
That the House take note of the following documents:
Law Enforcement—Joint Statutory Committee—Examination of the 2010-11 annual reports of the Australian Crime Commission and the Australian Federal Police—Government response.
Legal and Constitutional Affairs—House of Representatives Standing Committee—A time for change: Yes/No? Inquiry into the machinery of referendums—Government response.
Migration—Joint Standing Committee—Enabling Australia: Inquiry into migration treatment of disability—Government response.
Petitions—House of Representatives Standing Committee—The work of the first Petitions Committee: 2008-2010—Government response.
Procedure—House of Representatives Standing Committee—Monitoring and review of procedural changes implemented in the 43rd Parliament—
Interim report No. 1—Government response.
Interim report No. 2—Referral of bills to committees by the House Selection Committee—Government response.
Treaties—Joint Standing Committee—Report 125: Treaties tabled on 7 and 28 February 2012—Government response.
Report relating to the consideration of bills introduced 29 to 31 October 2012
1. The committee met in private session on 31 October 2012.
2. The committee determined that the following referrals of bills to committees be made—
Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications:
REASONS FOR REFERRAL/PRINCIPAL ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION:
Detailed analysis of complex issues raised.
Standing Committee on Regional Australia:
REASONS FOR REFERRAL/PRINCIPAL ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION:
The bill commits future parliaments to appropriate $1.77 billion. This is an unusual approach which deserves scrutiny by the committee given its impact on the budget.
Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs:
REASONS FOR REFERRAL/PRINCIPAL ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION:
Consideration of the means by which proposed efficiencies will be achieved, effects on the administration of the courts and whether the proposed amendments will improve access to justice.
REASONS FOR REFERRAL/PRINCIPAL ISSUES FOR CONSIDERATION:
Requires further examination of detail within the bill and any unintended consequences that may follow.
That:
(1) Mr McClelland be discharged from the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and that, in his place, Mr Slipper be appointed a member of the committee;
(2) Mr Macfarlane be appointed a supplementary member of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications for the purpose of the committee's inquiry into the National Electricity Bill 2012;
(3) Mr Hunt be appointed a supplementary member of the Standing Committee on Regional Australia for the purpose of the committee's inquiry into the Water Amendment (Water for the Environment Special Account) Bill 2012; and
(4) Mrs B. K. Bishop be appointed a supplementary member of the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs for the purpose of the committee's inquiries into the Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) Bill 2012 and the Public Interest Disclosure (Whistleblower Protection) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2012.
Migration Amendment (Reform of Employer Sanctions) Bill 2012
That the bill be referred to the Federation Chamber for further consideration.
The adverse effect of the carbon tax on electricity and gas prices.
The current price rises in a number of states have been principally caused by a sustained period of under-investment. Significant investment is required to replace ageing network infrastructure and deliver energy security.
At the heart of all this is a simple market design problem: a clear regulatory incentive to overinvest in infrastructure and pass on costs to consumers.
Spiralling network costs are the main contributor to these increases, partly driven by inefficiencies in the industry and flaws in the regulatory environment.
With the cost of poles and wires making up a significant component of power bills, my aim is for power price rises to be limited at, or below, cost of living.
Everyone agrees that something has to be done about electricity prices and energy reform is something all levels of government must work together to deliver.
… electricity markets and market power, business and investment issues, technical and reliability requirements, and policy and regulatory settings.
Over the past 10 years, electricity prices have almost doubled across Australia’s eight capital cities. The most populated cities, Melbourne and Sydney, have seen the highest price rises, and prices have more than doubled in the past 10 years. In real terms, across Australia, electricity prices have increased by over 40 per cent over the 10 years. Melbourne prices have risen by over 50 per cent in real terms—52 per cent. So have Sydney’s—51 per cent. In Brisbane, real electricity prices have gone up by over 38 per cent, and in Adelaide real electricity prices have gone up by over 26 per cent.
Even ALP branch members ask me in dismay, 'Why did she do it when she said she wouldn't?'
"Reducing, lessening the impact, or possibly, revoking, the carbon tax: if she—
stays, it is the one Act of Contrition she needs to make.
"In doing so, she would tell the people of Australia "I am sorry, and I am listening to you."
… you would be in a position to pass that onto the people who buy services from your business and we have expected that those costs would be passed on …
We can no longer have wind turbines imposed on communities. I can’t single-handedly build a new Jerusalem but I can protect our green and pleasant land.
I’m saying enough is enough.
I think the economy has absorbed the introduction of a carbon tax relatively easily, with less disruptive than the introduction of the GST.
To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives
This petition of concerned citizens of Australia draws the attention of the House to the following:
WHEREAS, the Sikh community in Australia has been a vibrant part of the Australian cultural mosaic since 1897;
WHEREAS, the Sikh community in Australia is amongst one of the largest religious groups within the Indo-Australian community;
WHEREAS, members of the Australian Sikh Community have become an integral part of Australia's culture as they continue to contribute significantly to the national economy;
AND WHEREAS, there was an organized campaign of Genocide against the members of the Sikh Community in India in November of 1984, resulting in the deaths of thousands of innocent Persons;
we call on the House of Representatives to:
1. Recognize that an organized campaign of violence, rapes and killings took place in India in November of 1984, against the Sikh community, resulting in the deaths of thousands.
2. Formally recognize that these organized killings were "Genocide" as per the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
3. Urge the government of India to take all reasonable measures to bring all persons responsible for this organized campaign of violence to justice. This includes criminal prosecutions against the responsible persons following due process of law.
The Banksia collapse has returned the spotlight to the wide regulatory gap between banks, which are closely supervised by APRA, and companies who issue un-rated, unlisted debentures and invest the proceeds in risky construction and property loans.
Such companies receive comparatively no oversight despite many collapses. For the past five years, following the $300 million Westpoint collapse, they have been required to disclose whether they hold suggested minimum amounts of capital and face no sanctions if they do not.
Angry mobs, instigated by leaders of the then-governing Congress Party, committed countless acts of retribution, killing and wounding thousands of Sikhs and destroying their property and businesses. During ensuing government counterinsurgency operations in Punjab State, from 1984 to 1995, Indian security forces committed serious human rights violations and killed, forcibly disappeared, and tortured thousands of Sikhs.
None of the architects of this counterinsurgency strategy have been brought to justice.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Hon. BC Scott ) took the chair at 09:30.
Our BER project and the wonderful facilities we now offer help ensure students in the local area will have access to a high-quality sustainable educational future in buildings appropriate to 21st-century learning.
In its glory days, 400 people would dance the night away at balls at the Mardan hall.
Sometimes there were two orchestras, one at either end of the room—
When the first took a break, the other band would start up providing continuous music. At 3.00 a.m., revellers would retrieve their horse and cart and travel home … this could be many miles away.
When the hall was opened a bevy of white-clad women served a sumptuous banquet. Timed for 5.00 p.m. and peppered with many toasts, it was all cleared away by 8 for a night of dancing.
Australia went to Afghanistan with our allies and we will leave with our allies.
The effective management of a number of regional flashpoints will become increasingly urgent …
Managing competing maritime and territorial claims will be particularly important
We are approaching a point where doing more with less risks becoming a cavalier disregard for the ability of forces to survive against credible peer competition.
… can be relinquished disturbingly rapidly if it is not carefully developed and sustained …
One of the reasons that people are having to do … too many tours, is there aren't enough of them and the reason there aren't enough of them is that the defence budget is too small.
The people of Australia refuse to vote for politicians who will invest sufficiently in defence to give us strategic alternatives.
Three years ago the Labor government conducted the Blewett report and have not implemented any of the recommendations in that report.
Therefore consumers are finding it difficult to make purchases of Australian product and the Labor government should be absolutely ashamed of itself for denigrating the Australian farmer to the point where the Australian farmer's product is not able to be recognised on the Australian supermarket shelf.
It should be implemented immediately—
and on fresh fruit and in particular on fruit drink and fruit juice products.
The glut is the symptom not the cause, the cause is the cost of doing business in Australia (regulated labour and conditions, deregulated growing industry, domestic supermarket duopoly, government policy like carbon tax not applied to imports and labelling).
… We keep pulling trees out till there is nothing left here.
Deregulation and free trade is destroying Agriculture and for WHAT benefit? We are net importers of fruit/vegetables/juice and fish (aren't we surrounded by ocean?) and this has delivered the consumer in Australia with the fastest increasing food prices in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Choice is either we do business in Australia or not.
1. A ten-fold increase of Federal Government charges associated with registering a facility for export
2. Lack of drive and support for opening and maintaining export market access
3. Failure to impose the same quality restrictions on imported goods as Australian produced goods.
Orchardists recently received a notice from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry advising new fees and charges to be imposed to register sheds for packing oranges for exports.
The new annual charge for registered charge for registered establishments under Tier 3, protocol markets, increases from $550 per annum to—
$8,530. This is a significant increase which orchardists have no way of recouping.
While individual quolls may die from 1080 baits, this research suggests that aerial baiting is unlikely to have an impact on quoll populations as a whole. In fact, aerial baiting which suppresses local fox and dog populations may benefit quolls in an area.
On behalf of the Canning Agricultural Horticultural and Recreational Society, welcome to the 2012 Canning show.
This year we are celebrating the Magic of the Show. We will be conjuring in the kitchen, charming the vegetables, fruit and flowers and enchanting the young and the young at heart. The Society has secured top class entertainment for the 2012 programme, the centre stage will be filled with music, dance and of course—magic.
Once again our exhibition halls are a showpiece, receiving entries from regular participants and first timers.
… power to require a news media outlet to publish an apology, correction or retraction, or afford a person a right to reply.
This is in line with the ideals contained in existing ethical codes but in practice often difficult to obtain.
For (a) 2007-08, (b) 2008-09, (c) 2009-10, (d) 2010-11, and (e) 2011-12, what grants were provided to the Australian Conservation Foundation, including the amount, purpose, and program each was delivered under.
Under my portfolio of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, there have been two grants awarded to the Australian Conservation Foundation since 2007-08; details as follows:
2010-2011
$20,000 (GST exclusive) under the Caring for our Country (Natural Heritage Trust) program for support to the Tasmanian Forests Statement of Principles Signatories.
2011-2012
$20,000 (GST exclusive) as a one-off (non-program) grant to support ongoing involvement in the Tasmanian Forests negotiations under the Tasmanian Forests Intergovernmental Agreement.
(1) For (a) 2008-09, (b) 2009-10, (c) 2010-11, and (d) 2011-12, how many Commonwealth grants were approved by the Ministers department, and at what total cost.
(2) For 2012-13 (to date), how many Commonwealth grants were approved by the Ministers department and at what total cost, and of these, how many have (a) signed funding agreements, and at what total cost, and (b) been paid to the approved recipients, and at what total cost.
In accordance with Finance Circular No. 2009/04 and the Commonwealth Grant Guidelines, information on all grants for the 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 financial years and the current 2012-13 financial year to date is published on the Department's website, including details of the recipients, intended use and locations.
The full listing can be found at http://www.dpmc.gov.au/accountability/grants/index.cfm
(1) Is the National Broadband Network (NBN) on schedule to be rollout out by 2015.
(2) Is the Blue Mountains region (including the townships of Springwood, Katoomba and Mount Victoria) being considered for the NBN rollout; if so, when will the rollout in this region commence; if not, why not.
(1) Yes. NBN Co Limited's (NBN Co) Corporate Plan of 2012 – 2015 (the Plan) indicates the rollout to communities announced in the three year rollout plan on 29 March 2012 are on track (page 36 refers). The Plan also states the entire fixed wireless and satellite networks are expected to be completed nationwide in 2015 (page 39 refers).
(2) Yes. The NBN will be rolled out to 100 per cent of Australian premises, including those in the Blue Mountains region.
I am aware that the Blue Mountains region has not yet been included in NBN Co's first three year rollout plan. The three year rollout plan will be updated in March each year with new locations and rollout information.
On 20 December 2010, I announced a list of regional towns across Australia that will be receiving the high-speed fibre network. Four towns in the Blue Mountains local government area, Mount Victoria, Blackheath, Yellow Rock and Medlow Bath, were included on this list.
Less densely populated areas are likely to be served by next-generation fixed wireless or satellite technologies, which will be completed in 2015. The precise optic fibre footprints will only be known when NBN Co completes detailed suburb-by-suburb, region-by-region network designs.