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14 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Thursday, 1 December 2016 I say to our brothers and sisters in the trade union movement: on this side of the House we know the effort you make to improve the lives of working people. We know the battles that you undertake to lift the living standards of ordinary Australians. We will never accept the calumny and the ignorance which says that somehow unions do not have a place in our society and that their work is not important. Fringe groups and fads may come and go, but solidarity is forever. Speaking of unshakeable loyalty, I want to thank the press gallery. In our long travels together this year, I often missed the news and could not read the clips. I discovered that the less I saw of your work the more I enjoyed your company. I want to give a special shout out to the snappers and the camos who, while their colleagues snoozed and boozed, ran alongside me in the tropical Townsville heat and the chilly Canberra dawns. In fact, they often sprinted ahead of me while carrying cameras—which was quite demoralising! Speaking of my running buddies, I want to thank all the members of the AFP who work to keep us safe, especially the detail who served with me on this year's campaign trail. Their professionalism is second only to their sense of humour. I also thank the members of 34 Squadron who carried us safely around the country with such unfailing courtesy and kindness, particularly to my family. On the ground we count on our COMCAR drivers. I want to thank the COMCAR drivers across Australia, but I would like to give a special shout out to my drivers in Melbourne, Steve Smith and Peter Taylor, who are so patient with all the jokes, questions and noises. They are also very good at putting up with my kids and, more significantly, my staff. On a sitting day this building is crowded with visitors, from the tourists and schoolchildren in the galleries above to all of us who crowd the coffee queue. But it is the permanent residents of this building who allow us to do our job: the clerks and chamber attendants—and I acknowledge Luch, amongst others; the Hansard reporters; the drafting and tabling officers, whose quiet diligence ensures that the only disruptions in this place are the ones we cause ourselves. To Dom and the team at Aussies—the most powerful unsung monopoly in Australia!—thank you for keeping us fed and fuelled. To everyone in security, 2020, broadcast, catering and the gym, thank you for your service. Of course, I want to thank the Parliament House cleaners, particularly the cheerful souls Maria and Joy, who give me that last bit of crucial insight before question time each day. Having thanked the people who clean up the mess, I want to turn to those who cause it—my staff. None of us in this place could survive without the people who work for us. In case any of us are in any doubt about that, they tell us every day. My electorate office and my personal staff work incredibly hard. They make a lot of sacrifices almost always without recognition. I am very grateful to work with so many people who I can laugh with at the end of the day. I have one final reflection, though, Mr Speaker. On 30 October this year, in a moment of unthinkable horror, a Brisbane bus driver was set on fire and killed while still behind the wheel. As the flames spread the fire trapped 11 of his passengers in the back of the bus, unable to access the front door. The smoke was getting thicker, panic was setting in; imaginable, really. But a Brisbane cab driver who just happened to pull over for a haircut came to their aid. Selflessly, heroically, behaving in a manner in which we all hope we would do but we wonder if we could, he ran towards the burning bus, kicking in the rear door and helping 11 frightened people to safety. That cabbie's name was Aguek Nyok. Just over 10 years ago he came to Australia as a refugee from South Sudan. When he saw the flames that afternoon he ran towards the smoke and the screams. He did not stop to ask where the people on the bus were born. He did not pause to question the god that they were praying to for rescue. He saw his fellow human beings in mortal danger and he saved their lives. Aguek was born 13,000 kilometres from where we sit. But on that day he showed us all the spirit of Australia—the spirit of courage and compassion, the sense of community we revere. How lucky were we that that refugee came to Australia. How lucky were those 11 people this Christmas, and their families, to have Christmas together because of that refugee. The ideals and qualities that inspire us in this place he demonstrated in the service to the Australian people. In 2017, let us all be guided once again by those great Australian values. Let us strive to prove worthy of the people, to prove worthy of the country, to prove worthy of the privilege we have to serve. Let us strive to prove worthy of the people who call Australia home. Merry Christmas, everyone. I thank the House. BILLS Agriculture and Water Resources Legislation Amendment Bill 2016 First Reading Bill and explanatory memorandum presented by Mr Joyce. Bill read a first time. CHAMBER
Thursday, 1 December 2016 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 15 Second Reading Mr JOYCE (New England—Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources) (10:37): I move: That this bill be now read a second time. The Agriculture and Water Resources Legislation Amendment Bill 2016 and its companion bill, the Excise Levies Legislation Amendment (Honey) Bill 2016, build on the agriculture and water resources portfolio's progress to reduce unnecessary regulation and to improve legislation so that it is clear, easy to read and easy to understand. The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources administers nearly 100 pieces of primary legislation, some of which date back to the 1980s. Not all of this legislation is now required and not all of it is clear and easy to understand. This bill will amend 13 portfolio acts to cease four redundant statutory bodies, remove unnecessary regulation, improve administrative efficiency and make technical amendments. It will also repeal 12 acts that are redundant or no longer required and re-introduce legislative measures that lapsed when the parliament was prorogued in April 2016. The bill will benefit portfolio industries by removing unnecessary regulation and streamlining administrative practices. For example, the bill will amend fisheries management legislation to remove an unnecessary administrative burden on the fishing industry. Currently, permit holders need to complete an application form each year to apply for a new permit. The amendments will allow the Australian Fisheries Management Authority to grant existing permit holders a new permit without the need for them to complete a new application. This is a simple improvement but one that will lessen the burden for fisheries permit holders each year. Current legislation requires meat exporters to have a licence to export meat by-products such as skin, hide and tallow. The bill will remove this requirement. As these products are not for human consumption, an export licence is not needed. The bill will also make amendments to improve government efficiency, including ceasing four statutory bodies. These bodies are either redundant or their functions can now be undertaken in other more efficient ways. For example, the Statutory Fishing Rights Allocation Review Panel was created to review decisions during the reforms to statutory fishing rights. The amendments will transfer the merit review functions of the review panel to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, the AAT. Due to the majority of the reforms now being completed, any work that would previously have been undertaken by the review panel can now be more appropriately performed by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. Amendments in the bill will also address concerns raised by the Senate Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances about the appropriateness of the delegation of the secretary's general rule-making powers in the Farm Household Support Act 2014. The provision that allows the delegation of the secretary's general rulemaking power will be removed. To streamline administrative practices, the Illegal Logging Prohibition Act 2012 will be amended to ensure that the process of retaining a seized item during an investigation process is efficient and practical. The delegation will be amended to enable inspectors, who are appointed under the legislation, to make applications to an issuing officer to retain items seized during an investigation. Under current legislation, some of the portfolio's industry bodies are required to provide the agriculture minister with certain corporate documents, which must be tabled in both houses of parliament. To reduce unnecessary duplication and to maintain consistency, where industry bodies already make the same, or similar, information publicly available, the relevant legislation will be amended to remove the tabling requirements. The bill will reduce complexity and improve readability of numerous acts. For example, consistent with current legislative drafting practice, about 40 pages of text of an international fisheries treaty will be removed from fisheries legislation. This will simplify the act and remove the onerous process of making legislative amendments should there be any changes to the treaty. The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources continues to identify portfolio legislation that is redundant or no longer required. The bill includes 12 acts for repeal. These acts relate to laws covering agricultural and veterinary chemicals, the national residue survey, export charges and quarantine fees, rural adjustment and meat and livestock and wool industries. A number of these acts date back to the mid-1980s and early 1990s. This bill supports the government's commitment to maintaining proper housekeeping of Commonwealth legislation and will assist portfolio industries by reducing unnecessary regulatory burden and helping them to CHAMBER
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