26th May 2014, 5:43 PM – Representatives Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources Activity) Repeal Bill 2014 - Second Reading - Read a second time

The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill for a second time.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through when becoming law here. ) This means that the majority agree with the main idea of the bill and that the House can now discuss it in more detail. However, in this case, there was no further discussion and the House immediately agreed to a motion to read the bill for a third time without further division.(Read more about why decisions such as this are made without formal division in our FAQ Section. )

Background to the bill

The bill was introduced to repeal the Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources Activity) Act 2013 ('ORA Act') to remove the requirement for foreign workers to hold a visa when they participate in, or support, offshore resource activities taken to be in the migration zone.(Read more about this latest bill, the Migration Amendment (Offshore Resources Activity) Repeal Bill 2014, in its bills digest (651 KB). Its explanatory memorandum is available here.) Unless it is successfully repealed, this requirement will come into effect on 30 June 2014.

The ORA Act was the Labor Government’s response to the Federal Court decision _ Allseas Construction SA v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship_ () FCA 529 ('Allseas').