Commentary on Amendments and Explanatory Materials [2018] AUSStaCSBSD 220 (19 September 2018)

• Commentary on amendments and explanatory materials

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Commentary on amendments
and explanatory materials

Imported Food Control Amendment Bill 2017

[Digests 6 & 11/17]

1.51 On 11 September 2018 the Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources (Senator Colbeck) tabled a further replacement explanatory memorandum to the bill.

1.52 The committee thanks the minister for tabling this addendum to the explanatory memorandum which includes key information previously requested by the committee.^[31]

Private Health Insurance Legislation Amendment Bill 2018

[Digests 5 & 6/18]

1.53 On 10 September 2018 the Senate agreed to five Government amendments, the Minister for Indigenous Affairs (Senator Scullion) tabled a supplementary explanatory memorandum and the bill was read a third time.

1.54 On 11 September 2018 the House of Representatives agreed to the Senate amendments and the bill was passed.

1.55 In Scrutiny Digest 5 of 2018 and Scrutiny Digest 6 of 2018, the committee raised a number of concerns about the bill.^[32] The amendments appear to partially address the committee's concerns. In particular, the committee welcomes the inclusion of new subsection 34(2C), which would require the Private Health Insurance Ombudsman, when delegating functions and powers, to be satisfied that the delegate has expertise appropriate to the function or power delegated.

1.56 In light of the fact that this bill has already passed both Houses of Parliament the committee makes no further comment on this matter.

Social Services Legislation Amendment (Cashless Debit Card Trial Expansion)

Bill 2018

[Digest 6/18]

1.57 On 11 September 2018 the Senate agreed to 11 Government and one Independent (Senator Storer) amendments, the Minister for Communications and the Arts (Senator Fifield) tabled a supplementary explanatory memorandum and the bill was read a third time. On the same day the House of Representatives agreed to the Senate amendments and the bill was passed.

1.58 Amendment 3 inserts a new Schedule 1A into the bill. Item 2 of that Schedule seeks to replace the reference to a 'legislative instrument' in subsection 124PD(2) of the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 with a 'notifiable instrument'. This would allow the minister to exclude particular areas from the definition of 'trial area' by notifiable, rather than legislative, instrument.

1.59 The committee notes that notifiable instruments, unlike legislative instruments, are not subject to the usual disallowance and sunsetting provisions in the Legislation Act 2003 and so are not subject to parliamentary scrutiny.

1.60 However, in light of the fact that this bill has already passed both Houses of Parliament, the committee makes no further comment on this matter.

1.61 The committee has no comments on amendments made or explanatory material relating to the following bills:

• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Amendment Bill 2018;^[33]

• Corporations Amendment (Crowd-sourced Funding for Proprietary Companies) Bill 2017;^[34] and

• Health Insurance (Approved Pathology Specimen Collection Centres) Tax Amendment Bill 2018.^[35]

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[31] Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills, Scrutiny Digest 8 of 2017, pp. 73-88; Scrutiny Digest 11 of 2017, pp. 27-32.

[32] Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills, Scrutiny Digest 5 of 2018, pp. 47-51; Scrutiny Digest 6 of 2018, pp. 118-127

[33] On 12 September 2018 the Senate agreed to one Government amendment, the Assistant Minister for Defence (Senator Fawcett) tabled a supplementary explanatory memorandum. On the same day the House of Representatives agreed to the Senate amendment, the Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Broadbent) presented an addendum to the explanatory memorandum and the bill was passed.

[34] On 12 September the Senate agreed to one Opposition amendment and the bill was read a third time. On the same day the House of Representatives agreed to the Senate amendment and the bill was passed.

[35] On 10 September 2018 the Senate agreed to one Government amendment, the Assistant Minister for Treasury and Finance (Senator Seselja) tabled a supplementary explanatory memorandum, and the bill was read a third time. On 11 September 2018 the House of Representatives agreed to the Senate amendment and the bill was passed.