21st Jun 2007, 12:56 PM – Senate Wheat Marketing Amendment Bill 2007 - Proposed Instruction to Committee of the Whole - Split bill

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Labor Senator Kerry O'Brien. This means that the motion was unsuccessful.

The motion was:

"That it be an instruction to the Committee of the Whole that: (a) the committee divide the Wheat Marketing Amendment Bill 2007 to incorporate Schedules l, 3, 4, 5 and 6 in a separate bill; and (b) the committee add to that separate bill enacting words and provisions for titles and commencement."

Senator O'Brien explained that the Labor Party believed that the bill should be split because it is only Schedule 2 that needs to be passed as a matter of urgency. That Schedule relates to extending the minister’s veto power over non-Australian Wheat Board (International) Ltd bulk exports. Senator O'Brien said that the other parts of the bill should be considered over a longer time period.

Background to the bill

In 2006, the Wheat Marketing Amendment Bill 2006 was passed to transfer the right to veto bulk wheat export applications from the Australian Wheat Board (International) (AWB(I))(AWB (International) is a subsidiary of AWB Ltd. Before the Wheat Marketing Amendment Bill 2006 was passed, it held the mandate for the single desk wheat export operation, including the power to veto other exports of bulk wheat. ) to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry until 30 June 2007. The bill was the result of the Volker report into the UN Oil-for-food program and the later Cole inquiry. These investigations arose out of the AWB scandal, which involved Australian Wheat Board Ltd (AWB) paying kickbacks to to Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime.

A key feature of the Wheat Marketing Amendment Bill 2007 is to extend this transfer of the power of veto from the current expiry date of 30 June 2007 to 30 June 2008. This ensures that the veto power does not return to AWB(I) while it manages the 2007-08 harvest and allows wheat growers time to establish a new entity to exercise the monopoly on bulk wheat exports from 1 March 2008.(Read more in the bills digest. )

The bill also:

• provides the Wheat Export Authority ('WEA') with broader information gathering powers;
• provides the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry with the power to direct the WEA to undertake certain investigations;
• empowers the Minister to designate a company other than AWB(I) as the holder of the single desk export privilege;
• deregulates exports of wheat in bags and containers (i.e. non-bulk wheat) provided that exporters comply with a quality assurance scheme;
• replaces the WEA with the Export Wheat Commission and changing the relevant governance arrangements in accordance with the Uhrig reforms(Read the Uhrig report here (1.3 MB).) for the governance of Commonwealth agencies.

References