The PRESIDENT (Senator the Hon. John Hog g) took the chair at 12:30, read prayers and made an acknowledgement of country.
That the community affairs legislation committee be authorised to hold a private meeting otherwise than in accordance with standing order 32(1) during the sitting of the Senate today from 1.50 pm.
That government business notices of motion (1) and (2) relating to a first speech and proposing the exemption of bills from the cut-off order be postponed to a later hour.
… we will now tax mining profits in a way that supports the growth of the industry and the economy and ensures the community gets a fair return.
The mining industry employs around 2% of the workforce and pays the lowest rate of tax on its profits of any industry in Australia.
The original mining tax would have ensured that the mining industry made the kind of contribution to the taxpayer that their expensive advertisements claim they do.
Today’s figures show that the 98% of Australians who don’t work in mining will see very little return from the high prices that foreign companies can seek Australia’s scarce resources for. We are missing out on a once in a generation opportunity.
The economic and political future of Australia has been put at risk and our territorial integrity is under threat … our freehold titles will slump in value if the earning capacity of our mining, pastoral, tourist, fishing and forestry industries is wound down as a result of the consequences of Mabo.
Any introduction of additional taxation runs a substantial risk of shattering industry confidence and drastically delaying exploration activity so that future production will never have any chance of satisfying Australia’s oil requirements.
They want all this money for themselves, but they expect us to live on a bowl of rice.
For the income earned by an industry to generate jobs in Australia , it has to be spent in Australia. And our mining industry is about 80 per cent foreign-owned.
Got the message yet? For our economy and our workers to benefit adequately from the exploitation of our natural endowment by mainly foreign companies, our government has to ensure it gets a fair whack of the economic rents those foreigners generate.
Long before then, however, Tony Abbott will have rewarded the Liberal Party's foreign donors by abolishing the tax.
This will be an act of major fiscal vandalism, of little or no benefit to the economy and at great cost to job creation.
No government should ever take a backward step in pursuit of the national interest.
… I don't think it should—
It's a profit-based tax and over the course of the last six and eight months, we've seen significant volatility in the price indexes, particularly for iron ore.
"I think it's worth having in mind there were circumstances surrounding the design of the mining tax that meant the government had to do the best job it could do in the circumstances available to it …
No government should ever take a backward step in pursuit of the national interest.
… the principle … is a good principle and one which Labor supports.
… it is amusing that … [Don Argus]—
chaired the so-called independent committee—
Financial modelling of the iron ore mine development example provided by the Commonwealth in their MRRT legislation Exposure Draft and Explanatory Material, indicates that there may be significant differences between the Net MRRT and consequently the total level of taxation (corporate income tax + Net MRRT + Royalties) paid by projects which existed before 2 May 2010 (when the MRRT was first announced) and those that will start after the introduction of the MRRT on 1 July 2012.
… there was the dog with no bark, the pub with no beer and now the tax with no revenue.
"One morning my mother took me, my sister and my baby brother and left our house. It took us three weeks to walk here."
Holding her baby brother, 10-year-old Halima queues to receive her vaccinations at the Liboi Reception Centre for Somali refugees on the Kenyan/Somali border.
… … …
It took us three weeks to walk here. My mum carried some food and we also begged in the villages we passed. We got here two days ago. They have taken our names and given us food. We have to wait here for about a week for our papers to be checked and then a truck is coming to take us to our new home. My sandals broke on the way here. I am wishing for new sandals."
Halima and her family are now living with some 280,000 Somalis in three massive refugee camps in the Dadaab region of eastern Kenya.
That the Senate take note of the answers given by the Assistant Treasurer (Senator Sinodinos) to questions without notice asked by Opposition senators today relating to Australian Water Holdings Pty Ltd.
Questions may be put to a minister relating to the public affairs with which the minister is officially connected, to proceedings pending in Parliament, or to any matter of administration for which the minister is responsible in a personal or representative capacity…This is an overriding rule: that a question must seek information, or press for action within a minister’s responsibility. The chair will disallow any question where it is clear that it is not within a minister's responsibility.
That the Senate take note of the answer—
given by the Minister for Finance (Senator Cormann) to a question without notice asked by Senator Ludlam today relating to employment in Western Australia.
That the following matter be referred to the Economics References Committee for inquiry and report by the first sitting day of July 2015:
The challenges to Australian industries and jobs posed by increasing global competition in innovation, science, engineering, research and education, with particular reference to:
(a) the need to attract new investment in innovation to secure high skill, high wage jobs and industries in Australia, as well as the role of public policy in nurturing a culture of innovation and a healthy innovation ecosystem;
(b) the Australian Government's approach to innovation, especially with respect to the funding of education and research, the allocation of investment in industries, and the maintenance of capabilities across the economy;
(c) the importance of translating research output into social and economic benefits for Australians, and mechanisms by which it can be promoted;
(d) the relationship between advanced manufacturing and a dynamic innovation culture;
(e) current policies, funding and procedures of Australia's publicly funded research agencies, universities, and other actors in the innovation system;
(f) potential governance and funding models for Australia's research infrastructure and agencies, and policy options to diversify science and research financing;
(g) the effectiveness of mechanisms within Australian universities and industry for developing research pathways, particularly in regards to early and mid career researchers;
(h) policy actions to attract, train and retain a healthy research and innovation workforce;
(i) policy actions to ensure strategic international engagement in science, research and innovation; and
(j) policy options to create a seamless innovation pipeline, including support for emerging industries, with a view to identifying key areas of future competitive advantage.
That consideration of the business before the Senate on Wednesday, 19 March 2014, be interrupted at approximately 5 pm, but not so as to interrupt a senator speaking, to enable Senator O'Sullivan to make his first speech without any question before the chair.
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:
Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2013-2014
Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2013-2014
Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) 2013-2014.
That, for the purposes of paragraph 48(1)(a) of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003, the Senate rescinds its resolution of 2 December 2013 disallowing the Migration Amendment (Temporary Protection Visas) Regulation 2013, as contained in Select Legislative Instrument 2013 No. 234 and made under the Migration Act 1958.
The Senate divided. [15:48]
(The President—Senator Hogg)
That the following bill be introduced: A Bill for an Act to amend the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Act 1989, and for related purposes.
That this bill may proceed without formalities and be now read a first time.
That this bill be now read a second time.
Every year in the name of cosmetics, an estimated five hundred thousand animals around the world will be inflicted with pain and suffering. This is unacceptable and should be stopped. That is the intent of this Bill.
Rabbits may be held helpless by restraints around the neck, have their eyes forcibly held open, and new ingredients dripped into an eye to see how long it takes to bleed, or ulcerate, or burn sight from that eye.
Mice or rats, and their pups, may be slowly poisoned with new formulations force-fed down their throats to see how long it takes to start convulsing or become paralysed, or how slow they are to die—days, weeks or months. They may be locked in full-body tube restraints, forced to breathe substances until they die bleeding and convulsing, or are then killed so their organs can be examined to examine the impact of the poisoning process.
Guinea pigs or mice may have ingredients injected under their skin until it ulcerates.
Any of these animals may have formulations rubbed into raw skin until it blisters or corrodes.
All in the name of the latest newly formulated cosmetic wonder product.
There is widespread global recognition, by governments and consumers alike, that the testing of animals for cosmetics and new cosmetic ingredients is cruel and unnecessary.
Some 81% of Australians believe Australia should follow the EU in banning the sale of cosmetics tested on animals, with this figure increasing to 85% for women.
Australian cosmetics companies already routinely state they do not test their cosmetics on animals. The Australian peak body for cosmetics states:
The End Cruel Cosmetics Bill 2014 follows domestic and international expectation, understanding there are alternatives already being used by the cosmetic industry around the world.
The Bill accounts for these changes in technology in order to protect animals from needless pain and suffering.
More than 5,000 available raw ingredients that have already been tested are already available and used by cosmetic manufacturers, requiring no new animal testing.
The safety of new product formulations used to market an exclusive new product, and made from well known existing cosmetic ingredients, can be assured using available non-animal testing methods. This scientific testing includes in vitro methods which predict outcomes based on chemical structure and reactivity using computational modelling, genomics and metabonomics.
Already cosmetics manufacturers in the EU are compelled to use methods such as those already scientifically validated by the European Commission's European Centre for the Validation of Alternative Methods.
The End Cruel Cosmetics Bill 2014 amends the Industrial Chemicals (Notification and Assessment) Act 1989 (theICNA Act ) to prohibit developing, manufacturing, selling, advertising or importing into Australia cosmetics, or ingredients for cosmetics, which have been tested on animals.
The Bill amends Part 3B of the ICNA Act, which already provides for standards for cosmetics imported into, or manufactured in, Australia.
The Bill does not apply to:
This Bill is not discriminatory under international trade law: it effectively applies the same prohibitions to domestic products as it does to imports.
Further, Article XX(a) of the GATT authorises member states to deviate from their other WTO commitments where "necessary to protect public morals" and in Article XX(b) where "necessary to protect human, animal, or plant life or health…".
The Bill also provides that its effect on the importation of a substance is subject to Australia's international obligations.
This Bill allows Australia to follow the path already made by governments around the world, and trodden by the cosmetic companies in those countries:
Whilst Australia is not blazing a new trail, we can make sure we're not left behind.
This Bill meets national and international expectations in prohibiting actions that are strictly not necessary for the manufacture of cosmetics. The majority of Australians and a growing number of major international regulators judge these practices to be unacceptable.
The Bill promotes scientifically validated, alternative testing regimes that are already legislated as the only acceptable option in 30 countries, with the US and China expected to soon follow.
Around the world, NGOs have been working hard with communities and governments to end the use of cruel cosmetics. The team working on this bill has crossed countries and oceans to build this campaign, and I thank Humane Society International, Humane Research Australia and Choose Cruelty Free for their invaluable advice. The Animal Justice Party has also been a driving force. And I thank and acknowledge Voiceless, Animals Australia and many other groups committed to ending cruel cosmetics.
(a) notes:
(i) the importance of the Australian aid program to sustainable economic and social development and poverty alleviation for Pacific nations,
(ii) the contribution of the Australian aid program to Australia’s national interests through support for regional stability, security and prosperity,
(iii) the verbal commitment by the Minister for Foreign Affairs to not cut Australian development assistance to Pacific nations, and
(iv) the announcement by the Minister on 18 January 2014 that $650 million will be cut from Australia’s development assistance in 2013-14, including $61.4 million to the following Pacific country and regional programs:
Papua New Guinea – $5.3 million,
Solomon Islands – $14.2 million,
Vanuatu – $6.2 million,
Samoa – $3.6 million,
Fiji – $2.8 million,
Tonga – $2.7 million,
Kiribati – $3 million,
Other small Pacific islands – $3.6 million, and
Pacific regional – $20 million;
(b) calls on the Minister to meet her commitment to not cut Australian development assistance to Pacific nations; and
(c) calls on the Government to reverse its $4.5 billion in cuts to Australia’s aid program and work to reinstate funding to levels published in the 2013 14 Budget.
After subparagraph (a)(iv), insert:
(v) the United Nations has urged developed countries to commit to a 0.7 per cent gross national income (GNI) target by 2015 to meet the Millennium Development Goals;
Paragraph (c), omit all words after “Australia’s aid program and”, substitute “to work towards 0.7 per cent of GNI allocated to overseas aid by increasing funding to 0.5 per cent of GNI by 2017-18”.
That the time for the presentation of the report of the Environment and Communications Legislation Committee on Australia Post be extended to 14 April 2014.
That the Senate—
(a) expresses concern:
(i) at the arrest and subsequent detention of Ms Balendra Jeyakumari, an advocate for families of the disappeared, and the arrest of her 13 year old daughter Vidushika, by the Sri Lankan police on Thursday, 13 March 2014, and
(ii) that these arrests followed both Balendra and Vidushika Jeyakumari being featured in media photographs and videos when British Prime Minister Mr David Cameron visited northern Sri Lanka during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2013;
(b) notes, with concern, reports that Australia is working to actively undermine the United States (US) resolution, entitled 'Promoting reconciliation, accountability, and human rights in Sri Lanka', to be voted on at the upcoming meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC); and
(c) calls on the Australian Government to:
(i) intervene and call for the release of Ms Balendra Jeyakumari and for her to be reunited with her daughter, and
(ii) desist from watering down the resolution proposed by the US at the upcoming meeting of the UNHRC.
That the Environment and Communications References Committee be authorised to hold a public meeting during the sitting of the Senate on Tuesday, 18 March 2014, from 5 pm to 6 pm, to take evidence for the committee's inquiry into the Direct Action Plan.
That the time for the presentation of the report of the Environment and Communications References Committee on the Direct Action Plan be extended to 26 March 2014.
That the time for the presentation of the report of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee on overseas aid be extended to 27 March 2014.
That the Senate—
(a) acknowledges:
(i) Ms Rose Anne Fulton has been held in custody in Kalgoorlie for 18 months without a trial or conviction, and
(ii) that it is unacceptable for people to be held in custody indefinitely without conviction;
(b) notes:
(i) the failure of the Northern Territory Government to provide suitable accommodation and treatment options in order for the Western Australian Government to safely and securely transfer Ms Fulton back to her home in Alice Springs, and
(ii) that Ms Fulton is directly under the guardianship of the Northern Territory Minister for Health, Ms Lambley, as she remains an adult guardian client of the Northern Territory Minister and Mr Ian McKinlay; and
(c) calls on the Federal Government to take leadership and negotiate a transfer of Ms Fulton to Alice Springs to enable her to be close to her family.
That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment, no later than noon on 27 March 2014, any draft or final documents after 1 June 2013 relating to the internal concerns of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) with the following applications by North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation, including departmental and ministerial briefings and any documents which were given to the Minister:
(a) application for an approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 for proposed capital dredging at Abbot Point (EPBC 2011/6213);
(b) application for a permit under the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Regulations 1983 to dump Abbot Point dredge spoil in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (ref 34897, dated 6 January 2012); and
(c) application dated 4 March 2013 for a permit under the Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1981 to dump Abbot Point dredge spoil at sea.
That there be laid on the table by the Minister representing the Minister for the Environment, no later than noon on 20 March 2014, the following documents:
(a) the independent review of offsets for the Maules Creek coal project submitted to the Minister in accordance with Condition 10 of the approval of the project (Ref: EPBC 2010/5566);
(b) any correspondence between the department and the following parties between 1 December 2013 and 17 March 2014:
(i) Whitehaven Coal,
(ii) Hansen Bailey,
(iii) Cumberland Ecology, and
(iv) Alison Martin;
(c) any ministerial briefing notes concerning any matters related to the Maules Creek coal project prepared between 1 December 2013 and 17 March 2014; and
(d) any internal departmental emails and memos regarding the independent review of the offset arrangements of the Maules Creek project between 1 December 2013 and 17 March 2014.
Pursuant to standing order 75, I propose that the following matter of public importance be submitted to the Senate for discussion:
The failure of the Abbott Government to address educational inequality and deliver needs-based funding across Australia.
If school performance is neither advantaged nor disadvantaged by parental income, ethnic background, religion, school size and location, or whether a student attends an independent, Catholic or public school, success at school will be determined essentially by the student's ability, application and hard work.
At present, it is mainly the hard-working and talented children of the privileged who have access to the very highest levels of educational achievement. If Gonski is implemented, such access will be available increasingly to the similarly hard-working and talented children of the socially disadvantaged. This is equality of opportunity, not equality of outcomes: differences in outcomes will inevitably exist between children, but they will no longer be the result of factors such as poverty, religion or sector of schooling.
… you can vote Liberal or Labor and you'll get exactly the same amount of funding for your school.
We signed the agreement with the federal government, not a political party.
I have a year 6 and a year 9 child and am strongly committed to the public education system.
I have been increasing alarmed at the lack of funding for basics at the children's primary schools even extending to insufficient teachers, and longstanding teachers' aids being forced to leave even when they are an integral part of the community and workforce within the school.
I have three children, two of whom are school age, the third is awaiting her big chance. The school they attend is a district high with less than 100 students from K to Year 10. It is staffed by fantastic teachers, professional and enthusiastic. I am concerned that with insufficient federal funding support our school will suffer loss of resources. We are small, but we are not insignificant. In the lives of our children and in the lives of those in our community the school is mightily significant. In fact there is talk of somehow making it possible for students to attend Year 11 and 12 through the school here (instead of kids having to commute two hours a day to the nearest regional high school.
I am very much in favour of the Gonski report and would like to see the recommendations tabled in that review put into practice. I'm sure our school and our students would benefit.
I want a great public school system for all kids. I find myself in the difficult situation of needing to buy my first home and therefore knowing i will be moving from my current rental and my kids will change schools. Where housing is 'affordable' the schools are of a low standard. In a country with resources and relative wealth we shouldn't be questioning funding for a good school system.
That the Senate take note of the document.
That the Senate take note of the document.
That the Senate take note of the report.
That the Senate take note of the report.
That Senator O'Sullivan be discharged from and Senator McKenzie be appointed to the Select Committee on School Funding, and that Senator O'Sullivan be appointed as a participating member.
… 57% of Parenting Payment recipients and 28% of Newstart Allowance recipients could not afford to pay utility bills on time compared with 12% of all Australians. Over 40% of both groups could not afford dental treatment when needed.
If this measure is repealed geothermal exploration will not have the same incentives as any ordinary explorer looking for fossil fuels will get. If anything the playing field should be tilted in favour of geothermal energy exploration.
The Rudd government has crashed through its own accountability guidelines to rush $38 million worth of tax reform advertisements to air in an effort to counter a negative blitz by the mining sector.
In order to rush the campaign to air, the government suspended its own processes for having officials check that advertisements are free from party political content.
Special Minister of State Joe Ludwig has scope to ignore the guidelines in cases of national emergency, extreme urgency or 'other compelling reason'.
The mining tax was the policy backdrop to the political machinations. After breaking an election promise by postponing the carbon emissions trading scheme, Rudd had launched immediately into the announcement of a super-profits tax on coal and iron-ore.
Ferguson says: We announced the tax on the Sunday. By the end of the week we had lost the debate. The industry had been told that the potential revenue would not be included in the forthcoming budget. The next week, it was not only booked in the budget, it was allocated to be spent.
A furious Rudd privately blamed Swan for bungling the consultations with the companies and the states. Swan denied the accusation.
When I look back on my career, firstly at the Miscellaneous Workers Union, then as ACTU president and finally as a member of parliament, my main motivation has been to get Australians into decent, well-paying jobs. This is what the Labor Party means to me: helping those less fortunate in life by providing new jobs and opportunities to achieve a better quality of life. Creating opportunities by working with business is not the same thing as pointless class rhetoric. In essence, we need to grow the pie to share it.
… make WA's voice inside Labor even stronger.
… boycott Israeli goods, trading and military arrangements, and sporting, cultural and academic events.
Those who scorn modernity, who loathe the liberty of others, and who hold the differences of peoples and cultures in contempt.
Those who often begin by hating the Jews. But, history shows us, end up hating anyone who is not them.
Those forces, which have threatened the state of Israel every single day of its existence, and which, today, as 9-11 graphically showed us, threaten us all.
And so, either we stand up for our values and our interests, here, in Israel. Stand up for the existence of a free, democratic and distinctively Jewish state. Or the retreat of our values and our interests in the world will begin.
The demand for adult secure care in Central Australia is well short of capacity.
… the fact of the matter is no matter what legislation we introduce, we're not going to arrest our way out of alcohol abuse and Aboriginal disadvantage in the Northern Territory.
We urge you to act in the interests of asylum seekers. As part of this we request the Biennale withdraw from the current sponsorship arrangements … and seek to develop new ones. This will set an important precedent for Australian and international arts institutions, compelling them to exercise a greater degree of ethical awareness and transparency regarding their funding sources. We are asking you, respectfully, to respond with urgency.
Our interests as artists don't merely concern our individual moral positions. We are concerned too with the ways cultural institutions deal with urgent social responsibilities.
No doubt when renewal of the funding agreement beyond 2015 arises for consideration, the Australia Council will have regard to this episode and to the damage which the board of the Sydney Biennale has done.
… which deals with cases where an applicant for Australia Council funding refuses funding offered by corporate sponsors, or terminates a current funding agreement.
… … …
The policy should further consider whether all future funding agreements should contain a clause that stipulates that it is a condition of Australia Council funding that the applicant does not unreasonably refuse private sector funding, or does not unreasonably terminate an existing funding agreement with a private partner.
I myself don't think that arts companies should reject bona fide—
sponsorship from commercially sound … prospective partners on political grounds …
Many times I wish that I could just close my eyes and it would go away. I want to know what it is like to lead a normal life so that I can eat what I want, when I want, and not worry about my blood sugar levels getting too low or too high. My biggest worry is about getting too low. Most people have blood sugar levels between five and eight, and their bodies automatically release insulin to keep their sugar levels constant. When you have diabetes this just does not happen. You have to try to add insulin by injecting it to balance the food that you eat. There is a lot of guess work involved and your blood sugars go up and down like a roller-coaster. So many lives are ruined by diabetes. My story is just one of them. I am a youth ambassador for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and we are desperately seeking support for getting us a cure. My parents and I help fundraise and I talk at workplaces about what it is like to have diabetes. People are usually very kind. Please talk to your colleagues about diabetes and help us find a cure.
The government must urgently signal its ongoing commitment to fund vital services which assist vulnerable and disadvantaged members of the community, including those which prevent homelessness and address youth unemployment.
Prime Minister, you are welcome to take your heartless racist exploitation of people's fears and ram it as far from Western Australia as your taxpayer funded travel entitlements can take you.
… this will be as good as it gets for Tony Abbott and the Liberals.
… the Abbott government will appear as nothing more than a thin, greasy layer in the core sample of future political scientists drilling back into the early years of the 21st century.
… every time you open your mouth the Green vote goes up.