Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

The government do not believe that this amendment is necessary, but we are prepared to support it with some small modifications. We are disappointed that the opposition rejected those sensible modifications that were designed to allow the legislation to be more workable. We have already agreed to support the objects clause as was initially proposed by the Greens in the Senate, and these changes were made following those negotiations with the Greens in the Senate. We agree the agency’s role is to support the development of evidence and data, and obviously that is the reason we are establishing the agency. I think this could have been made even better, but we are certainly not going to stand in the way of this amendment being agreed to.

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