Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to speak briefly to indicate Labor’s support for these amendments and to thank the Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister and the departmental staff for their assistance, given the quick turnaround from the time that the bill was introduced to our debating it today. Labor is pleased that the government has been prepared to take up a suggestion of ours. Obviously the wording has been worked on by the departmental staff and the drafters, and we think this makes the bill a much more sensible one. It is much more targeted, it deals with the purposes for the law—which we all understand—and it does not leave it open-ended in some way so that we, sitting at the table today, may not be able to understand how it might be used in the future. Labor is much more confident that this is an appropriate measure to be taken, and we thank the government for making these amendments. We support them.

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