10th Dec 2020, 1:21 PM – Senate National Emergency Declaration Bill 2020, National Emergency Declaration (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2020 - Second Reading - Black Summer

The majority voted against adding additional words (see below) to the usual second reading motion, which is "that the bill be read a second time" - parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill. This means the words won't be added.

Amendment text

At the end of the motion, add: ", but the Senate:

(a) notes:

(i) the Prime Minister's failure to prepare adequately for the last bushfire season,

(ii) the Prime Minister's catastrophic failure of leadership during the last bushfire season, which Australians have come to know as the Black Summer, and

(iii) the bill largely re-states existing emergency powers of the Commonwealth Government; and

(b) calls on the Prime Minister and the Government to:

(i) learn from their catastrophic failure to prepare for, or respond to, the Black Summer,

(ii) urgently prepare for this disaster season, including by releasing funding for mitigation works from their $4 billion Emergency Response Fund, and

(iii) accept, and implement, the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements' recommendation to develop a sovereign aerial firefighting fleet".