What to look out for this Parliamentary sitting week
Both the House and Senate return on Monday 15 March for the fourth sitting week of 2021.
This week in the House will be characterised by discussion on data and cyber safety in addition to income support amendments and the management of industrial chemicals.
The Senate will see consideration of changes to the storage of offshore petroleum, the revision of the definition of academic freedom and reforms in the private health insurance and super sectors.
In a rare procedural agreement, the Government and the Opposition have agreed that divisions will not be called between 12 noon and 1:30pm on Monday 15 March in both the House and the Senate so that Parliamentarians can attend the “March 4 Justice”.
House of Representatives:
On Monday, the House will resume debate on the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Supporting Economic Recovery) Bill 2020. This Bill seeks to amend the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 to introduce additional protections for consumers wishing to access high-cost credit products and to make amendments to the lending obligations for small credit amounts. This will be followed by resumed debate of the Online Safety Bill 2021 and the Online Safety (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Bill 2021. Both Bills aim to impose protections against non-consensual sharing of intimate images, create a complaints-based removal notice scheme for cyber-abuse, reduce the timeframe for service providers to respond to a removal notice from the eSafety Commissioner from 48 to 24 hours and award the eSafety Commission the power to enforce that internet service providers disable access to material depicting violent conduct.
Further debate will then take place on the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 1) Bill 2021 to make temporary amendments to rules relating to meetings of directors, shareholders of companies and members of registered schemes, to facilitate the use of electronic technology in holding meetings virtually and the use of electronic signatures for certain documents. This will be followed by resume debate of the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Early Childhood Education and Care Coronavirus Response and Other Measures) Bill 2021 which hopes to expand the circumstances in which business continuity payments can be paid to approved childcare providers.
On Tuesday, the House will resume debate on the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Strengthening Income Support) Bill 2021 to increase, from 1 April 2021, the maximum basic rates for all working age social security payments by $50 per fortnight and, extend until 30 June 2021, the waiver of the ordinary waiting period for jobseeker payment and youth allowance. The Bill also hopes to permanently increase the ordinary income-free area for jobseeker payment, youth allowance and other related payments to $150 per fortnight. A resumed debate will then take place on the Private Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Age of Dependants) Bill 2021 to change the maximum allowable age for people to be covered under a family private health insurance policy, as a dependent, from up to 24 years of age to up to 31 years of age.
Further debate will then take place regarding the Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation (No. 4) 2020-2021 to propose appropriations from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the ordinary annual services of the Government, in addition to amounts appropriated through the Supply Act (No 1) 2020-2021 and Appropriate Act (No 1) 2020-2021. Later that day, debate will be resumed for the Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management (Register) Bill 2020 and a subsequent package of Bills [Industrial Chemicals Legislation Amendment, Industrial Chemicals Environmental Manager (Register)] to establish a national framework to manage the ongoing use, handling and disposal of industrial chemicals including set of decision-making principles and a requirement for consultation with state and territory governments.
Wednesday will commence with resumed debate on the Biosecurity Amendment (Strengthening Penalties) Bill 2021 aims to amend the Biosecurity Act 2015 by increasing the maximum penalties that a court can impose for a non-compliance in order to manage the risks of pests and diseases entering Australia. Following this, there will be resumed debate on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Your Future, Your Super) Bill 2021. This Bill hopes to limit the creation of multiple superannuation accounts for employees who do not choose a superannuation fund on job commencement. It also hopes to require an annual performance test for MySuper products.
In the afternoon, debate will be resumed for the Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 4) Bill 2020 to make refunds of large-scale generation shortfall charges non-assessable non-exempt income for income tax purposes and to facilitate the closure and transitional arrangements associated with the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. This will be followed by resumed debate on the Designs Amendment (Advisory Council on Intellectual Property Response) Bill 2020 to amend the Designs Act 2003 by providing designers a 12-month grace period to apply for design protection after publishing or using their design and to protect designers from losing their rights through inadvertent disclosure.
Thursday is the final day of the sitting week and will see resumed debate of the Data Availability and Transparency Bill 2020 and the Data Availability and Transparency Consequential Amendments). These Bills seek to implement a scheme to authorise and regulate access to Australian Government data by allowing public sector data custodians to share data with accredited users in accordance with specific authorisations, purposes, principles, and agreements. These bills will also establish and outline the powers of the National Data Commissioner as the regulator of the scheme.
Sitting week in the House will close with resumed debate on the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Student Assistance and Other Measures) Bill 2021 which hopes to make the Act more consistent with social security law in the areas of Tax File Number collection and information management.
Senate:
The Senate will be in session from Monday morning and will begin with the consideration of two Private Members Bills. Senator Pauline Hanson is moving an amendment to the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006 which seeks to require the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator and the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority to take into account the benefit to the Australian community when granting new leases or renewing existing leases. The second is a proposed amendment to the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009 sponsored by Senator Stirling Grift (Centre Alliance) and Senator Jenny McAllister (ALP) which seeks to implement a number of new protections including a cap on the total payments that can be made under a consumer lease and require small amount credit contracts (known as payday loans) to have equal repayment and payment intervals.
The afternoon will see resumed debate on the Transport Security Amendment (Serious Crime) Bill 2020. This Bill seeks to prevent the use of aviation or maritime transport or offshore facilities in connection with serious crime. Further debate will then take place on the Higher Education Support (Freedom of Speech) Bill 2020 which seeks to amend the Higher Education Support Act 2003, to revise the definition of academic freedom and replace the existing term of free intellectual property. These amendments are in response to the French Review, designed to strengthen protections for academic freedom and freedom of speech in Australian universities. Following this, debate will resume to amend the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 which seeks to increase the maximum number of allowable members from four to six in self-managed superannuation funds and small APRA funds. Following this, debate will continue on the National Consumer Credit Protection Amendment (Supporting Economic Recovery) which hopes to amend the National Consumer Credit Protect Act 2009. The amendment will introduce additional protections for consumers wishing to access high-cost credit and make amendments to lending obligations for small credit amounts.
On Tuesday, the Online Safety Bill 2021 and the Online Safety (Transitional Provisions and Consequential Amendments) Bill 2021 will be introduced into the Senate. These Bills seek to modernise the regulatory framework by articulating a set of basic online safety expectations to improve and promote online safety for Australians. This will be followed by debate on the Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery). This Bill seeks to amend the Fair Work Act 2009 by defining casual employment to what is contained in a contract. The Bill also aims to provide ongoing support to businesses that continue to be significantly impacted by the pandemic by extending JobKeeper flexibilities. This will be followed by the Private Health Insurance Legislation Amendment (Age of Dependents) Bill 2021 which seeks increase the age for people to be covered under a family private health insurance policy from up to 24 years to up to 31 years old. This Bill also seeks to allow people with a disability, regardless of their age, to be covered under a family private health insurance policy as a dependent.
On Wednesday, the Senate will begin debate on the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Strengthening Income Support) Bill 2021 which intends to increase the maximum basic rates of all working age social security payments by $50 per fortnight until 30 June 2021. This will be followed by continued debate on the Migration Amendment (Strengthening the Character Test) Bill 2019 which seeks to amend the character test by providing grounds to consider visa cancellation or refusal where a non-citizen has been convicted of offences. This will also be followed by debate on the Education Legislation Amendment (2021 Measures No. 1) Bill 2021 which seeks to financially support research programs administered by the Australian Research Council.
On Thursday, the Senate will begin with resumed debate on the Migration Amendment (Prohibiting Items in Immigration Detention Facilities) Bill 2020 which will enable the Minister to determine prohibited items in relation to immigration detention facilities and detainees. This will be followed by debate on the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Early Childhood Education and Care Coronavirus Response and Other Measures). This amendment responds to the changes in the sector to provide financial relief to providers following the pandemic. This will be followed on resumed debate on a suite of five Bills to establish a national framework to manage the ongoing use, handling and disposal of industrial chemicals. The Industrial Chemicals Environmental Management (Register) Bill 2020 seeks to reduce the impact on the environment and limit people’s exposure to industrial chemicals. The final piece of legislation to be debated is the Work Health and Safety Amendment (Norfolk Island) Bill 2021 to extend the operation of the Act from 30 June 2021 to 30 June 2023.
The full list of legislation scheduled in both the House and the Senate can be found here.