Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services, Housing, Youth and Women) Share this | Hansard source

In relation to the consideration in detail, I have a number of amendments to move and I also want to make some comments about one of the additional issues that has been raised in this debate and that I alluded to in my speech on the second reading. I move:

(1)    Clause 2, table of commencement information, item 2, Column 2, omit all words after “However,” substitute

                 “but a Proclamation must not be issued until the national Document Verification Service is fully operational.”

Now I am going to make some comments that do not relate to this amendment—that is, about people under the age of 18 applying for their own access cards. This issue was of enormous concern to members from both the government and the opposition. I am very happy to report that, because of some very hard work, I think, on the part of Mal Washer and other people on the government side, we have reached a better position than the one that was originally advocated by the minister. I want not only to congratulate Mal Washer on his excellent work but also to say that we are still waiting to see in concrete the statements that the minister has committed to making in his third reading speech, explaining the guidelines that he is proposing and the effect that they will have. We will look forward to seeing that explanation in the third reading speech and in the guidelines, and we will be watching what the minister says very closely to ensure that the commitments he has made to his own side and to us are honoured.

My amendment relates to bringing the commencement date of the legislation into line with the operation of the new document verification service. A number of Labor Party speakers have mentioned that the document verification service is absolutely integral to ensuring that this legislation does have the effect that the government is claiming that it will have. Without the document verification service—

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