On Wednesday, the first of two private members’ days in the sitting week, a bill relating to the rehoming of animals seized by or surrendered to local councils was introduced into the Council, and debate resumed on another bill to create an offence of industrial manslaughter under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. Members also debated 10 general motions, and agreed to 12 orders for papers. Read on to learn more…
(A quick reminder, too: during our three-week run of four-day sitting weeks, we’ll be running shorter-format blogs to bring you all the key information in a timely way. We hope enjoy the new format.)
Companion Animals Amendment (Rehoming Animals) Bill
The Companion Animals Amendment (Rehoming Animals) Bill 2021, introduced by Ms Hurst (Animal Justice Party) seeks to amend the Companion Animals Act 1998 to set out the actions a local council must take to rehome an animal in its care, before it may be euthanised. This includes giving at least seven days’ written notice of the animal’s presence in their care to at least two rehoming organisations, as well as taking reasonable steps to advertise the animal for rehoming before it can be euthanised. The bill also requires councils to keep a record of the actions it takes to rehome an animal and prohibits a council from euthanising an animal if a new home has been found. The bill provides an exception for animals deemed by a veterinarian to be so injured, so diseased or in such a physical condition that it is cruel to keep them animal alive to be euthanised.
Following Ms Hurst’s reading of the bill, which you can read in full in the Hansard record here, debate was adjourned for five calendar days.
Work Health and Safety Amendment (Industrial Manslaughter) Bill
On Wednesday, Parliamentary Secretary Mr Farlow contributed to the second reading debate on the Work Health and Safety Amendment (Industrial Manslaughter) Bill 2021, introduced by Mr Searle (Labor) in May. This bill aims to amend the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 to create two new offences of industrial manslaughter. These new offences would provide that a “senior person” or a “person conducting a business” or undertaking that negligently or recklessly caused the death of another person at work could be deemed guilty of an offence. The bill contains penalties of up to 25 years’ imprisonment or 100,000 penalty units for a corporation. For more on the bill, you can read Mr Searle’s second reading speech, given on 5 May, here.
You can read the Parliamentary Secretary’s contribution here. At the end of his contribution, debate on the bill was adjourned.
List of general motions and orders for papers
General motions
The following general motions were debated and agreed to, unless otherwise stated:
- Building Better Homes campaign (Ms Boyd, The Greens)
- Movember 2021 (Mr Mallard, Liberal Party)
- Allocation of grant money, as amended (Mr Roberts, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation)
- 100 years of women’s football (Ms Cusack, Liberal Party)
- Campbelltown koala population (Ms Faehrmann, The Greens)
- Ban on evictions in coastal communities, as amended (Mr Shoebridge, The Greens)
- 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics (Mr Martin, Liberal Party)
- Australian animal welfare standards and guidelines for poultry (Ms Hurst, Animal Justice Party)
- Nowhere to Go report (Ms Boyd, The Greens)
- Coastcare Week 2021, as amended (Ms Jackson, Labor)
Orders for papers
- Glendell continuation project (Mr Shoebridge, The Greens) – due 1 December
- Office of Transport safety investigations concerning the Transport Asset Holding Entity (Mr Mookhey, Labor) – due 1 December
- Cracking on light rail vehicles (Mr Graham, Labor) – due 1 December
- Forestry operations in public forests – further order (Mr Field, Independent) – due 17 November
- Investment NSW (Mr Mookhey, Labor) – due 1 December
- School Infrastructure NSW projects – further order (Mrs Houssos, Labor) – due 1 December
- Gospers Mountain fire 2019 and bushfire hazard reduction (Mr Banasiak, Shooters, Fishers and Farmers) – due 1 December
- Project Remediate (Mrs Houssos, Labor) – due 1 December
- Hassal Developments Pty Ltd (Mrs Houssos, Labor) – due 1 December
- Resources for Regions program (Ms Boyd, The Greens) – due 1 December
- School infrastructure projects and land disposals, as amended (Mrs Houssos, Labor) – due 8 December
- Miscellaneous grants and other matters, as amended (Mr Graham, Labor) – due 1 December
2 thoughts on “In the House – Wednesday 10 November 2021”