With the botched religious discrimination bill dominating headlines, it would be easy to think that’s all that happened in Parliament this week. Far from it, actually — plenty of other legislation has been put forward, debated and passed. Here are a few other bills.
Anti-trolling bill
The bill reforms defamation laws around comments posted online and will force social media platforms to take down posts featuring online harassment, and potentially provide identities of anonymous posters. A person who administers or maintains a social media page will not be deemed to be a publisher of third party material, making them immune from liability.
The bill was presented to the House of Representatives on Thursday, before being sent to the Senate and a committee for review, which will report on February 15.
Set the standard bill
The first steps have been made to legislate the recommendations made in sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins’ report into parliamentary workplaces. Two recommendations have been implemented — the first was an acknowledgement to those who experienced bullying and harassment while working in Parliament, and the second prevents staff from being arbitrarily fired and makes clear the obligations parliamentarians have under the Work Health and Safety Act to provide a safe workplace.
Agriculture biodiversity stewardship market bill
With koalas now listed as endangered in Queensland and NSW, the agriculture biodiversity stewardship market bill will create a national framework to describe and measure biodiversity, enable biodiversity certificates for projects, and help track these projects. It seeks to reward farmers for increasing biodiversity on their farms, making it easier for landholders to restore and manage projects that deliver carbon and biodiversity benefits. The bill was read a second time this week with no current proposed amendments.
Cyclone and flood damage reinsurance bill
As massive floods wreak havoc on outback South Australia, causing disruptions to transport systems to the Northern Territory, the cyclone and flood damage reinsurance bill will make insurance affordable and accessible for households and small businesses in cyclone-prone areas, mostly in the NT.
The reinsurance pool will be backed by a $10 billion government guarantee from the middle of this year. The bill was presented this week.
Pension loan scheme enhancements bill
The bill makes the Pensions Loans Scheme more flexible, allowing advanced payments and introducing a no negative equity guarantee, meaning people won’t owe more on their reverse mortgage than their home is worth. An awareness campaign will be launched to update the public on the changes.
Critical infrastructure protection bill
Under the bill, the government will be able to label critical infrastructure assets of “national significance” and impose cyber security measures. These could include mandatory real-time cyber incident reporting, critical infrastructure asset register reporting to identify hazards and, in some instances, the installation and maintenance of a specified computer program.
It aims to address the increased cyber security risk following COVID-19 to limit disruptions on industries such as food, medical supplies, water and sanitation and traffic management systems.
Enhancing tax integrity and supporting business investment bill
This bill was introduced this week and does a few things: It allows the commissioner to make companies that have failed to comply with record-keeping laws to undergo an education course; will allow people to self-assess the life of some intangible depreciating assets; gives tax exemptions for the FIFA Women’s World Cup; and makes certain grants given to small businesses in response to Cyclone Seroja non-exempt income.
Next week, Parliament is set to turn its attention to the mitochondrial donation law reform bill, COVID electoral reforms and funding for RATs.
