Migration Amendment (Regional Processing Arrangements) Bill 2015

The majority voted in favour of a motion to agree to the main idea of the bill. In parliamentary jargon, they voted to read the bill for a second time. This means that they can now discuss the bill in more detail.

What was different about this second reading motion?

Normally, a motion to agree to the main idea of the bill, or a second reading motion, says only: That this bill be now read a second time.

But in this case, the motion was successfully amended by Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young (SA) so that it now read:

That this bill be now read a second time but the Senate notes:

the findings of the Review by Phillip Moss into conditions in Nauru and the evidence currently before the Senate Select Committee into conditions in Nauru.

What does this bill do?

According to the bill's homepage, this bill:

provide[s] statutory authority for the Commonwealth to provide assistance to other countries to carry into effect arrangements for the processing and management of unauthorised maritime arrivals who have been taken to regional processing countries, including the expenditure of Commonwealth money on these arrangements.

The bill will be "closing a loophole that left the offshore processing of asylum seekers at risk of being overturned by the High Court" (read more on ABC's PM program).