Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the amendments. As the House would be aware, I had circulated a previous set of amendments I referred to in my second reading speech. The Greens were always concerned to make sure that the protections in this bill extended across the board. There are particular areas of concern to us, and those are for people in higher skilled and degree qualified occupations. These are nurses, people working in IT, engineers—particularly engineers who are working in mobile areas, like ships or planes—who are in areas that I have been made aware of as having many instances of abuse and concern.

Because the government has accepted some part of those amendments that I have moved, I will not be proceeding with my own amendments. But I commend the government for approaching this legislation in a way that is different from the approach to some other pieces of legislation. This process has been marked by a willingness to work with members of the crossbench. I commend the amendments to the House.

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