Legislative Council
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
28795 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL Thursday 2 December 2010 __________ The Deputy-President and Chair of Committees (The Hon. Kayee Frances Griffin), in the absence of the President, took the chair at 11.00 a.m. The Deputy-President (The Hon. Kayee Frances Griffin) read the Prayers. DEPARTMENT OF THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL Report The President tabled the annual report of the Department of the Legislative Council for the year ended 30 June 2010. Ordered to be printed on motion by the Hon. John Hatzistergos. DEPARTMENT OF PARLIAMENTARY SERVICES Report The President tabled the annual report of the Department of Parliamentary Services for the year ended 30 June 2010. Ordered to be printed on motion by the Hon. John Hatzistergos. CRIMES (SENTENCING PROCEDURE) AMENDMENT BILL 2010 Third Reading Motion by the Hon. John Hatzistergos agreed to: That this bill be now read a third time. Bill read a third time and transmitted to the Legislative Assembly with a message seeking its concurrence in the bill. FLAMES WOMEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM Motion by the Hon. Lynda Voltz agreed to: 1. That this House congratulates the Sydney University Flames Women's Basketball Team on their powerhouse win over Adelaide to ensure a New South Wales Grand Final. 2. That this House notes the lack of coverage by the media of this superlative win and in particular the lack of reporting not only on this game but any women's sport by the Sydney Morning Herald 20-page sports section. BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE Formal Business Notices of Motions Private Members' Business items Nos 32, 38, 46 and 48 outside the Order of Precedence objected to as being taken as formal business. BULAHDELAH CENTRAL SCHOOL Motion by the Hon. Lynda Voltz agreed to: That this House: (a) congratulates the New South Wales Government and the Australian Federal Government for their investment in and completion of Bulahdelah Central School, and the official opening of the new facilities, and (b) notes that these facilities have allowed Bulahdelah Central School to remain at the forefront of rural education. 28796 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 2 December 2010 BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE Formal Business Notices of Motions Private Members' Business item No. 58 outside the Order of Precedence objected to as being taken as formal business. SEXUAL ASSAULT Motion by the Hon. Lynda Voltz agreed to: 1. That this House condemns recent media coverage of an alleged assault of a young woman by a prominent rugby league player. 2. That this House notes that: (a) sexual assault is one of the most under-reported crimes in Australia, (b) significant progress has been made to encourage women to have the courage to come forward and make a complaint, (c) this work has seen a significant increase in reporting of sexual assault, and (d) media coverage of fans and supporter groups' messages of support, vigils outside police stations and allegations about the alleged victim's family, are a serious setback for the good work that has been undertaken to empower women to feel comfortable with reporting this type of serious offence. BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE Formal Business Notices of Motions Private Members' Business items Nos 99 and 126 outside the Order of Precedence objected to as being taken as formal business. LARGE HADRON COLLIDER Motion by the Hon. Lynda Voltz agreed to: That this House notes that: (a) on 21 November 2009 the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) restarted the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), (b) the LHC took nearly 20 years to construct and aims to resolve physics enigmas such as an explanation for "dark matter" and "dark energy" that account for 96 per cent of the cosmos, and whether other dimensions exist parallel to our own, (c) the LHC is fundamental to finding the theorised component Higgs boson, which would explain how particles acquire mass, and (d) the collisions that the LHC produces will generate masses of data that could unlock mysteries about the creation of the universe and the fundamental nature of matter. BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE Formal Business Notices of Motions Private Members' Business items Nos 203 and 221 outside the Order of Precedence objected to as being taken as formal business. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN Motion by the Hon. Helen Westwood agreed to: 1. That this House notes: (a) the NSW Government's efforts to raise awareness about violence against women, and (b) the Government's support for initiatives that prevent domestic violence and help victims is underpinned by a $50 million, five-year domestic and family violence action plan "Stop the Violence, End the Silence". 2 December 2010 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 28797 2. that this House congratulates the Government on: (a) supporting 67 local domestic violence committees with $1,000 grants to run activities and events during 16 Days of Activism, and (b) its commitment to make the first week of June "Stop Domestic Violence Week" in a further effort to raise community awareness. HUNTER ECONOMIC ZONE Motion by Mr David Shoebridge agreed to: That, under Standing Order 52, there be laid upon the table of the House within 7 days of the date of the passing of this resolution the following documents created since 1 January 2009 in the possession, custody or control of the Minister for Planning or the Department of Planning: (a) the Desktop Biobank Assessment of the Revised Hunter Employment Zone (HEZ) Masterplan, authored or submitted by Eco Logical Australia Pty Ltd, (b) all drafts of the Desktop Biobank Assessment of the Revised HEZ Masterplan, authored or submitted by Eco Logical Australia Pty Ltd, and (c) all documents referring to the Desktop Biobank Assessment of the Revised HEZ Masterplan, authored or submitted by Eco Logical Australia Pty Ltd, and (d) any document which records or refers to the production of documents as a result of this order of the House. BUSINESS OF THE HOUSE Formal Business Notices of Motions Private Members' Business items Nos 237, 238, 239, 240 and 243 objected to as being taken as formal business. SCIENCE HOUSE Motion by Mr David Shoebridge agreed to: 1. That this House notes that: (a) the Royal Society of New South Wales, Australia's oldest scientific society, has put forward a proposal to re- use Science House in Gloucester Street, Sydney to re-establish the site as a centre for the promotion of science, technology and innovation in New South Wales, (b) the proposal has support from the scientific community, including the Australian Academy of Science and the NSW Chief Scientist and Scientific Engineer, (c) the land at 157 Gloucester Street was granted in fee simple to the Royal Society of New South Wales, the Linnaean Society of New South Wales and the Institution of Engineers in 1928, (d) Science House is a heritage building, purpose-built in 1930 and was used as a focal point of science and other professional organisations in New South Wales until it was resumed by the Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority in 1975, (e) the building has been empty for three years and is currently managed by the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority, (f) both the interior and exterior of Science House is in excellent condition, (g) the Rann Labor Government in South Australia has already committed over $12 million to the refurbishment of the old Adelaide Stock Exchange in order to establish the new Science Exchange for science in that State, and (h) the building contains venue space that would provide for cross-disciplinary events and research. 2. That this House calls on the Government to: (a) support the proposal by the Royal Society of New South Wales, (b) acknowledge the inherent value in the promotion of science and its potential contribution to the economy of this state, 28798 LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL 2 December 2010 (c) recognise the heritage significance of the site and to secure its future as a valuable public asset, (d) undertake the transference of Science House from the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority to the Royal Society of New South Wales, and (e) guarantee the financial viability of the science centre including recurrent annual funding. INTERNET FILTERING Parliamentary Internet Use Audit Report The PRESIDENT: On 7 September 2010, following several media articles concerning parliamentary internet usage, I made a statement to the House concerning the Parliament's internet filtering policy. On 14 September 2010 at the budget estimates hearing for the Legislature, I provided an update to General Purpose Standing Committee No. 3. I advised the committee that Ernst and Young had been engaged to review the Parliament's internet filtering system and related issues as there were questions regarding the veracity of the data that had been produced in a report concerning internet usage. Ernst and Young has now furnished its report in relation to the matter. From its report I can advise the following. There are a number of potential limitations associated with the Internet filtering application being used by the Parliament. Of the 72 most visited websites containing supposedly adult content identified in the original report on internet usage, the website with the highest number of hits was ds.serving/sys.com, which appears to be an advertising server; 35 sites appear to be adult-related websites that have been visited; 14 sites appear to be adult-content related advertisements or pop-ups; 17 sites appear to be non-adult related; and a further five sites appear to be advertisements which do not appear to be adult content. Some of the websites analysed appear to have been incorrectly classified by the software application as they did not contain adult content. Nine websites have been identified that contain sexually explicit images of young people whose precise age is reportedly difficult to determine.