The majority voted in favour of a motion to agree with the Senate's amendment. This means that the final form of the bill has now been agreed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate and so will now become law.

There was one rebel voter, with Bass MP Bridget Archer (Liberal) crossing the floor to vote "Yes" against the rest of her party.

What does this amendment do?

According to the relevant explanatory memorandum:

The amendment enables the Minister to make directions in the NHFIC IM [National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation Investment Mandate Direction 2018] to specifically exclude certain types of liabilities or loans from the application of section 48 of the NHFIC Act [National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation Act 2018]. The intention is to enable the exclusion, where appropriate, of liabilities or loans arising from the Housing Australia Future Fund and other housing programs from the application of section 48. This will allow the NHFIC [National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation] to administer housing programs which involve entering into long-term payment obligations and where the funding for those programs is appropriated by government.

The amendment inserts a new item 12A into Schedule 2 of the Amendment Bill. The amendment adds a new subsection to section 48 clarifying that the NHFIC IM may include a direction that the Board must exclude certain types of liabilities or loans when it considers whether the NHFIC has sufficient capital and reserves. In effect, this will allow the NHFIC to administer programs involving these specific types of liabilities and loans, and not be required to hold capital and reserves against those exposures.

What does the bill do?

According to the bills digest (which is prepared by the parliamentary library):

The National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation (NHFIC) is to be renamed Housing Australia by amendments proposed in the Treasury Laws Amendment (Housing Measures No. 1) Bill 2023 (the Amendment Bill). The Amendment Bill also extends the Commonwealth guarantee currently held for the NHFIC from 1 July 2023 to 1 July 2028. In addition, a series of consequential amendments are made to reflect this name change across 2 other Commonwealth Acts and to 8 further Acts to assist in the operation of the HAFF [Housing Australia Future Fund].

The majority voted against a motion to suspend the usual procedural rules of parliament - known as standing orders - in order to let another vote take place (see the motion wording below). It was introduced by Clark MP Andrew Wilkie (Independent).

There was one rebel voter, with Bass MP Bridget Archer voting "Yes" against the rest of her party.

Motion text

That so much of the standing and sessional orders be suspended as would prevent the Member for Clark from moving the following motion:

That the House:

(1) notes that:

(a) Mr David McBride, a former military lawyer, is facing five charges relating to the disclosure of information that is undeniably in the public interest, including credible evidence of war crimes committed by Australian Defence Force personnel in Afghanistan;

(b) Mr McBride faces court on 13 November 2023, and will be the first person on trial in relation to alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan and he faces the very real prospect of spending years in prison, simply for telling the truth, because of this Australian Government prosecution; and

(c) Mr Richard Boyle, a former Australian Tax Office official, is also facing the prospect of life in prison within the year, for revealing information about serious improper conduct within the Australian Taxation Office, which was also undoubtedly in the public interest; and

(2) calls on the Government to immediately intervene pursuant to the Judiciary Act 1903 and discontinue the politically-motivated prosecutions of Mr McBride and Mr Boyle.

The majority voted against a motion:

That the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Bill 2023 be referred to the Standing Committee on Employment, Education and Training for consideration and an advisory report by 1 February 2024.

This means the vote failed. It was introduced by Bradfield MP Paul Fletcher (Liberal)

The majority voted against an amendment introduced by Bradfield MP Paul Fletcher (Liberal), which means it was unsuccessful. It would have amended a motion "that the resumption of the debate be made an order of the day for the next sitting."

Amendment text

That all words from "the next sitting" be omitted and substituted with "16 October 2023."

The majority voted in favour of a motion introduced by Maribyrnong MP Bill Shorten (Labor), which means it passed. Motion like these don't make any changes to the law but can be politically influential because they represent the will of the House.

NOTE: At the time this entry was edited, MP Cameron Caldwell was showing up as a rebel voter, but this is an error (see the original Hansard record, which shows Mr Caldwell voting with the rest of his party).

Original motion text

That this House:

(1) accepts the findings of the report of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme regarding the former ministers involved in the design and implementation of the scheme;

(2) expresses its deep regret and apologises to the victims of the unlawful robodebt scheme, and to front-line Centrelink staff; and

(3) commits to ensuring this cruel, unlawful chapter in the history of Australian public administration is never repeated.

The majority voted against amendments introduced by Indi MP Helen Haines (Independent), which means they failed.

What do these amendments do?

Dr Haines explained that:

This amendment would prevent carbon dioxide export permits being granted to future fossil fuel facilities. It would ensure that exporting carbon dioxide for carbon capture and storage, or CCS, cannot be used as justification for new fossil fuel projects.

Amendment text

(1) Schedule 1, page 4 (before line 4), before item 1, insert:

1A Subsection 4(1)

Insert:

new fossil fuel facility has the meaning given by section 4AA.

1B After section 4

Insert:

4AA Meaning of new fossil fuel facility

(1) A facility is a new fossil fuel facility for a financial year (the current financial year) if:

(a) during the current financial year, the facility conducts an activity, or a series of activities, for the purpose of extracting, processing, supplying or exporting coal, oil or natural gas; and

(b) either:

(i) as at 1 July 2023, a determination referred to in subsection 22XQ(1) of the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007 has never been made in relation to the facility under the safeguard rules (within the meaning of that Act); or

(ii) on 1 July 2023 the facility is an existing facility and during all, or part, of the current financial year the facility undertakes new operations of a kind specified in subsection (2).

(2) For the purposes of subparagraph (1)(b)(ii), the following kinds of new operations are specified:

(a) new operations that increase the annual production of the facility;

(b) new operations that extend the number of years of production of the facility;

(c) new operations that involve the development of new reserves that were not already under production by the facility on 1 July 2023.

(2) Schedule 1, item 3, page 5 (lines 1 to 16), omit subsection 19(7B), substitute:

(7B) In a financial year, the Minister may only grant a permit for the export of controlled material for dumping, where the controlled material is carbon dioxide streams from carbon dioxide capture processes for sequestration into a sub-seabed geological formation, if:

(a) the carbon dioxide streams are not captured from facilities that are new fossil fuel facilities for the financial year; and

(b) the Minister is satisfied of the matters referred to in paragraphs 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 of Annex 1 to the Protocol; and

(c) the Minister is satisfied that there is an agreement or arrangement in force:

(i) between Australia and the other country to which the export relates; and

(ii) that includes the matters covered by paragraphs 2.1 and 2.2 (as appropriate) in the Annex to Resolution LP.3(4) adopted on 30 October 2009 by the Contracting Parties to the Protocol; and

(d) the Minister is satisfied that the grant of the permit would be in accordance with Annex 2 to the Protocol; and

(e) the Minister is satisfied of any other matters the Minister considers relevant.