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Votes & Proceedings/Wednesday, 25 March 2026
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House

1

The House met, at 9 am, pursuant to adjournment. The Speaker (the Honourable M. Dick) took the Chair, made an acknowledgement of country and read prayers.

2

Rhoda Roberts AO —STATEMENT ON A SIGNIFICANT MATTER— Reference to Federation Chamber

Mr Burke (Minister for the Arts), pursuant to notice, made a statement in relation to Rhoda Roberts AO.

Ms Bell addressed the House in reply.

Mr Burke moved—That further statements on Rhoda Roberts AO be permitted in the Federation Chamber.

Question—put and passed.

3

Selection Committee

The Speaker presented the following document:

Report No. 9 relating to the consideration of committee and delegation business and private Members’ business on Monday, 30 March 2026.

5

Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Bill 2026

Dr Chalmers (Treasurer), pursuant to notice, presented a Bill for an Act to amend the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 , and for related purposes.

Document

Dr Chalmers presented an explanatory memorandum to the bill.

Bill read a first time.

Dr Chalmers moved—That the bill be now read a second time.

Debate adjourned (Mr Leeser), and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for the next sitting.

6

Treasury Laws Amendment (The Survivors Law) Bill 2026

Dr Mulino (Assistant Treasurer), pursuant to notice, presented a Bill for an Act to amend the law relating to taxation, superannuation and bankruptcy, and for related purposes.

Document

Dr Mulino presented an explanatory memorandum to the bill.

Bill read a first time.

Dr Mulino moved—That the bill be now read a second time.

Debate adjourned (Mr Leeser), and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for the next sitting.

7

Treasury Laws Amendment (Delivering an Efficient and Trusted Tax System) Bill 2026

Dr Mulino (Assistant Treasurer) presented a Bill for an Act to amend the law relating to taxation, to make minor and technical amendments of the statute law of the Commonwealth, and for related purposes.

Document

Dr Mulino presented an explanatory memorandum to the bill.

Bill read a first time.

Dr Mulino moved—That the bill be now read a second time.

Debate adjourned (Mr Leeser), and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for the next sitting.

8

Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission Bill 2026

Mr Hill (Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs), pursuant to notice, presented a Bill for an Act relating to the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission, and for related purposes.

Document

Mr Hill presented an explanatory memorandum to the bill.

Bill read a first time.

Mr Hill moved—That the bill be now read a second time.

Debate adjourned (Mr Leeser), and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for the next sitting.

9

Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (National Policing Information Charges) Bill 2026

Mr Hill (Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs) presented a Bill for an Act to impose national policing information charge, and for related purposes.

Document

Mr Hill presented an explanatory memorandum to the bill.

Bill read a first time.

Mr Hill moved—That the bill be now read a second time.

Debate adjourned (Mr Leeser), and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for the next sitting.

10

Customs Legislation Amendment (False Trade Marks Infringement Notices) Bill 2026

Mr Hill (Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs), pursuant to notice, presented a Bill for an Act to amend the Commerce (Trade Descriptions) Act 1905 and the Customs Regulation 2015 , and for related purposes.

Document

Mr Hill presented an explanatory memorandum to the bill.

Bill read a first time.

Mr Hill moved—That the bill be now read a second time.

Debate adjourned (Mr Leeser), and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for the next sitting.

11

Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Bill 2026

The order of the day having been read for the resumption of the debate on the question—That the bill be now read a second time—

Debate resumed.

Debate adjourned (Ms C King—Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government), and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for a later hour this day.

13

AUSTRALIAN PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION —REPORT—STATEMENT BY MEMBER

Dr Garland presented the following document:

Australian Parliamentary Delegation to the 5th Pacific Islands Parliament Group (PIPG) Conference, Fiji, 25 to 28 August 2025—Report, March 2026.

Dr Garland, by leave, made a statement in connection with the report.

14

Treaties—Joint Standing Committee —REPORT—STATEMENT BY MEMBER

Ms Chesters (Chair) presented the following document:

Treaties—Joint Standing Committee—Report 231: Pacific resilience and sport manipulation treaties—Report, March 2026.

In accordance with standing order 39(e) the report was made a Parliamentary Paper.

Ms Chesters, by leave, made a statement in connection with the report.

15

SUSPENSION OF STANDING AND SESSIONAL ORDERS MOVED

Mr Gee moved—That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the following from occurring immediately:

(1) the Member for Calare presenting a Bill for an Act to amend the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 , and for related purposes;

(2) debate on the second reading of the bill proceeding immediately for a period of no longer than one hour; and

(3) any questions required to complete passage of the bill then being put without delay.

Mr Khalil (Assistant Minister for Defence) moved—That the debate be adjourned.

Question—put.

Debate adjourned and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for the next sitting.

16

Treasury Laws Amendment (Genetic Testing Protections in Life Insurance and Other Measures) Bill 2025

The order of the day having been read for the resumption of the debate on the question—That the bill be now read a second time— And on the amendment moved thereto by Dr M Ryan, viz.— That all words after “That” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

“whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:

(1) notes that:

(a) genetic testing and genomic research are essential to improving prevention, care and treatment and reducing Australia’s chronic disease burden;

(b) Australia has made remarkable progress on carrier and newborn reproductive genetic testing;

(c) genomic sequencing technology means that conditions can be easily added to a screening panel without significant increases in test costs;

(d) world-leading Australian medical research has demonstrated that such programs have real-world feasibility and demonstrable cost-effectiveness; and

(e) pathology items 73451 and 73452, covering genetic carrier testing for spinal muscular atrophy, cystic fibrosis and fragile X syndrome, were welcome inclusions to the Medicare Benefits Schedule in November 2023;

(2) calls upon the Government to heed expert calls to expand the Medicare Benefits Schedule to:

(a) develop, support, and fund population programs for carrier testing and genomic screening; and

(b) identify couples and individuals at high risk of medically actionable conditions before conception or disease onset; and

(3) further notes that the above measures, along with restrictions on the use of genetic testing by the insurance industry contained in this bill, will encourage a greater uptake of genetic testing”—

Debate resumed.

Amendment negatived.

Question—That the bill be now read a second time—put and passed—bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General

Message No. 59, 21 November 2025, from Her Excellency the Governor-General was announced recommending an appropriation for the purposes of the bill.

Consideration in detail

Bill, by leave, taken as a whole.

Dr M Ryan moved an amendment.

Debate ensued.

Question—That the amendment be agreed to—put.

Dr Scamps, by leave, moved amendments (1) and (2) together.

Debate ensued.

Question—That the amendments be agreed to—put.

Bill agreed to.

Consideration in detail concluded.

On the motion of Dr Mulino (Assistant Treasurer), by leave, the bill was read a third time.

18

Better and Fairer Schools Agreement progress report —MINISTERIAL STATEMENT—MOTION TO TAKE NOTE OF DOCUMENT—REFERENCE TO FEDERATION CHAMBER

Mr Clare (Minister for Education), by leave, made a ministerial statement relating to the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement progress report, and presented the following documents:

Better and Fairer Schools Agreements progress report, March 2026.

Better and Fairer Schools Agreement progress report—Statement by the Minister for Education, Jason Clare MP, 25 March 2026.

Mr Leeser addressed the House in reply.

Mr Clare moved—That the House take note of the following document:

Better and Fairer Schools Agreement progress report—Statement by the Minister for Education, Jason Clare MP, 25 March 2026.

Debate adjourned (Mr Leeser), and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for the next sitting.

Mr Clare, by leave, moved—That the order of the day be referred to the Federation Chamber for debate.

Question—put and passed.

19

Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Bill 2026 —REPORT FROM FEDERATION CHAMBER

The Deputy Speaker reported that the Federation Chamber had been unable to complete its consideration of the bill and had returned the bill with an unresolved question ( see item No. 3, Minutes of Proceedings of the Federation Chamber, page 602 ), and presented a certified copy of the bill together with a schedule of the unresolved question.

Unresolved question—That the bill be now read a second time—

Question—put and passed—bill read a second time.

Leave granted for third reading to be moved immediately.

On the motion of Ms Rowland (Attorney-General), the bill was read a third time.

20

Health Legislation Amendment (Improving Choice and Transparency for Private Health Consumers) Bill 2026

The order of the day having been read for the resumption of the debate on the question—That the bill be now read a second time—

Debate resumed.

Ms Roberts presented a copy of her speech for incorporation in Hansard, in accordance with the resolution agreed to on 6 November 2025.

Debate continued.

Ms Campbell addressing the House—

It being 1.30 pm, the debate was interrupted in accordance with standing order 43, Ms Campbell was granted leave to continue her speech when the debate is resumed, and the resumption of the debate made an order of the day for a later hour this day.

21

MEMBERS’ STATEMENTS

Members’ statements were made.

22

QUESTIONS

Questions without notice being asked—

Member directed to leave

At 2.35 pm the Member for Lindsay ( Mrs McIntosh ) was directed, under standing order 94, to leave the Chamber for one hour for raising a frivolous point of order and she accordingly left the Chamber.

Questions without notice continued.

23

DISCUSSION OF MATTER OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE— Government

The House was informed that Mr Chester (Leader of The Nationals in the House) had proposed that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely, “In the middle of a national fuel crisis, the Prime Minister’s broken promise to govern for all Australians”.

The proposed discussion having received the necessary support—

Mr Chester addressed the House.

Discussion ensued.

Discussion concluded.

25

Health Legislation Amendment (Improving Choice and Transparency for Private Health Consumers) Bill 2026

The order of the day having been read for the resumption of the debate on the question—That the bill be now read a second time—

Debate resumed.

Dr M Ryan moved, as an amendment—That all words after “That” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

“whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes that:

(1) while the Government is advancing broader economic and health reforms, out-of-pocket costs of receiving specialist medical care continue to rise in a way that exacerbates cost of living pressures;

(2) consumer price indexation figures show that ‘medical and hospital services’ increased by 4.2 per cent in the 12 months to January 2026, outpacing headline inflation;

(3) medical and hospital services should be non-discretionary items, however costs have resulted in approximately one million Australians missing out or delaying specialist care every year; and

(4) while the measures in this bill will improve price transparency, further reforms are needed to keep specialist healthcare affordable for all Australians, including fixing specialist billing practices, extending Medicare rebates across specialists, indexing Medicare rebates in line with inflation and reviewing gap fee limits”.

Debate ensued.

Dr Scamps moved, as an amendment to the amendment proposed by Dr M Ryan—That all words after “whilst” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

“not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:

(1) notes that:

(a) since 2008, average private health insurance premium growth has exceeded inflation, average weekly earnings and Medicare Benefits Schedule indexation;

(b) over the six years to June 2025, insurers’ benefits for in-hospital treatment rose only 18.1 per cent, while sector profits grew by nearly 50 per cent in the same period;

(c) the current benefit payout ratio is still below the Federal Health Minister’s 90 per cent benchmark; and

(d) there are no standard terms and conditions for private health insurers’ ‘no-gap’ and ‘known-gap’ contracts with doctors; and

(2) calls on the Government to establish an independent Private Health System Authority to better regulate, review and oversee the private health system, to ensure value for consumers and that Australians’ changing health needs are met”.

Debate ensued.

Ms Spender moved, as an amendment to the amendment proposed by Dr Scamps—That all words after “not” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

“declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:

(1) acknowledges that while the bill introduces important measures to improve transparency and accountability in the private health insurance system, these reforms rely on decisions made by the Minister or a delegated authority;

(2) notes the Government, regulators and agencies have not consistently demonstrated strong accountability in decision-making timeframes in recent years, including in areas such as environmental approvals and delays within the Administrative Review Tribunal;

(3) recognises that delays in the approval or refusal of new or amended insurance products risk slowing the intended benefits of new products and may ultimately disadvantage Australians; and

(4) calls on the Government to:

(a) establish and enforce clear timeframes within Schedule 2 of this legislation for decisions on new product applications from insurers, and to adhere to those timeframes in practice; and

(b) establish and enforce clear timeframes across other government departments, regulators, and agencies to ensure that decisions are made in a timely way to allow businesses and Australians greater certainty of timeframe on government decisions”.

Debate ensued.

Ms Comer addressing the House—

26

ADJOURNMENT

It being 7.30 pm—The question was proposed—That the House do now adjourn.

Debate ensued.

The House continuing to sit until 8 pm—The Speaker adjourned the House until 9 am tomorrow.

DOCUMENTS

The following documents were deemed to have been presented on 25 March 2026 (An explanatory statement has been presented with each instrument unless otherwise indicated by an asterisk):

Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006—

Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (2025 Rules) Amendment Rules 2026 [F2026L00353].

Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (Class Exemptions and Other Matters) Amendment Rules 2026 [F2026L00354].

Australian Bureau of Statistics Act 1975— 2026 Census of Population and Housing and 2026 Post Census Review—MS26-000014.

Australian Immunisation Register Act 2015— Australian Immunisation Register Rules 2026 [F2026L00326].

Corporations Act 2001—

ASIC Corporations (IDPS—Relevant Interests) Instrument 2026/100 [F2026L00332].

ASIC Corporations (Minimum Subscription and Quotation Conditions) Instrument 2026/87 [F2026L00335].

ASIC Corporations (Rounding in Financial/Directors’ Reports) Instrument 2026/183 [F2026L00352].

ASIC Corporations (Takeovers—Accelerated Rights Issues) Instrument 2026/102 [F2026L00334].

Customs Act 1901— Comptroller-General of Customs (International Mail Centres) Approval 2026—LIN 25/131 [F2026L00327].

Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999— List of Exempt Native Specimens Amendment (Western Australian Sea Cucumber Fishery) Instrument, March 2026 [F2026L00315].

Fisheries Management Act 1991— Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery Management Plan 2003—

Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (Overcatch and Undercatch) Determination 2026 [F2026L00321].

Southern and Eastern Scalefish and Shark Fishery (Total Allowable Catch for Non-Quota Species—Common Hagfish) Determination 2026 [F2026L00324].

Fuel Quality Standards Act 2000— Fuel Quality Standards (Conventional Diesel) Amendment Determination (No. 1) 2026 [F2026L00349].

Industry Research and Development Act 1986— Industry Research and Development (Carbon Capture Technologies Program) Amendment Instrument 2026 [F2026L00314].

Migration Act 1958— Migration Regulations 1994—Migration Legislation Amendment (Annual Market Salary Rate) Instrument 2026—LIN 26/038 [F2026L00329].

Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013— Notices under section 72—

Commonwealth acquired shares in National Intermodal Corporation Limited—12 March 2026.

Corporate Commonwealth entity acquired shares in and became a member of—

Applied Electric Vehicles Ltd—25 March 2026.

Diraq Pty Ltd—25 March 2026.

Gilmour Space Technologies Pty Ltd—25 March 2026.

Hypersonix Launch Systems Pty Ltd—25 March 2026.

Omniscient Neurotechnology Pty Ltd—25 March 2026.

Corporate Commonwealth entity acquired shares in Wrkr Limited—2 March 2026.

Corporate Commonwealth entity disposed of shares in—

Liontown Resources Limited—25 March 2026.

PaidRight Holdings Pty Ltd—2 March 2026.

Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988— Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Rate of Interest Payable—s26(3)) Notice 2026 [F2026L00307].

Sydney Airport Curfew Act 1995— Dispensation report—05/26.

Water Act 2007— Water Amendment (Water Markets Decisions) Regulations 2026 [F2026L00313].

ATTENDANCE

All Members attended (at some time during the sitting) except *Mr Burns, Mr Conroy, Dr Haines, Mrs Phillips, Ms Scrymgour, Mr Thistlethwaite and Mr Wood.

* On leave

Claressa Surtees

Clerk of the House of Representatives

Federation Chamber

1

The Federation Chamber met at 9.30 am.

2

MEMBERS’ CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS

Members’ constituency statements were made.

3

Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Bill 2026

The order of the day having been read for the resumption of the debate on the question—That the bill be now read a second time—

Debate resumed.

Suspension of meeting

At 10.31 am, a division having been called in the House, the proceedings were suspended.

Resumption of meeting

At 10.42 am, the proceedings were resumed.

Debate continued.

Question—put and not being resolved—bill to be returned to the House with an unresolved question.

4

International Women’s Day—STATEMENTS

Statements were made.

5

International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination—STATEMENTS

Statements being made—

Suspension of meeting

At 11.28 am, a division having been called in the House, the proceedings were suspended.

Resumption of meeting

At 11.40 am, the proceedings were resumed.

Statements continuing—

Suspension of meeting

At 11.43 am, a division having been called in the House, the proceedings were suspended.

Resumption of meeting

At 11.55 am, the proceedings were resumed.

Statements continued.

6

ADJOURNMENT

On the motion of Ms Briskey, the Federation Chamber adjourned at 12.12 pm, until 9.30 am tomorrow.

Peter Banson

Clerk of the Federation Chamber

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