Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I present a supplementary explanatory memorandum to the bill and move government amendments (1) and (2), as circulated, together:

(1)    Clause 2, page 2 (table item 3), omit “item 4”, substitute “items 4 to 4B”.

(2)    Schedule 1, Part 1, page 3 (after line 18), at the end of the Part, add:

4A  Subsection 270-45(4)

Omit “The ^*member”, substitute “Unless the Minister or the Council otherwise determines, the ^*member”.

4B  At the end of section 270-45

Add:

        (5)    For the purposes of the Council making a determination under subsection (4) in relation to a ^*member who has made a disclosure under subsection (1), a member who has a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in the matter to which the disclosure relates must not:

             (a)    be present during any deliberations of Council for the purposes of making the determination; or

             (b)    take part in the making by the Council of the determination.

These amendments amend the bill to include an amendment to section 270-45 of the Private Health Insurance Act dealing with conflicts of interest of members of the Private Health Insurance Administration Council. The section presently provides that any direct or indirect pecuniary interest of a council member, however minor, must be disclosed and disqualifies council members from participating in related discussions or decisions. This has emerged as an issue because half of the current council members are covered by the same private health insurer, and application of the section in its current form would limit the council’s consideration of that insurer’s affair. The amendment will provide that, if a member does disclose a pecuniary interest, the minister or the other council members may determine that the member can still take part in discussions and decisions. I expect that the council will take a common-sense approach to the operation of this provision and allow a member to take part in deliberations if the only pecuniary interest he or she has is as a policyholder in common with all other policyholders. However, if necessary, I will issue guidelines for use by the council.

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