Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you. I move an amendment to Senator Fifield's amendment:

At the end of the motion, add:

(1) but, in respect of the provisions of the Coastal Trading (Revitalising Australian Shipping) Amendment Bill 2017, the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee report by 4 December 2017;

(2) and, in respect of the provisions of Fair Work Laws Amendment (Proper Use of Worker Benefits) Bill 2017, the provisions be referred immediately to the Education and Employment Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 12 February 2018.

The reporting date is the only change to Senator Fifield's amendment. We don't believe that, considering the legislative workload for the rest of the year, it's reasonable to expect, for a bill which we haven't seen, which we have only read about in the paper, that an inquiry and a report be done in essentially the next two weeks. I think it's entirely reasonable for a bill on this matter—on which, I imagine, based on the reports we read in the newspaper, there will be disputed views—to have a reasonable time frame. The reason it is February is more that we don't sit in January. We're not trying to unreasonably delay, but we believe that it is reasonable for the committee to have time to take submissions, to have hearings and to report back to the Senate in an orderly way.