Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the motion be agreed to.

by leave—I move that the motion be amended to read:

That this House:

(1)

notes the judgment of the Federal Court of Australia in Comcare v The Commonwealth (FCA 1331), and the report of the Queensland Coroner Inquest into the loss of the Malu Sara and in particular that:

(a)

the Court found that the respondent admitted liability;

(b)

the Coroner found significant aspects of the investigation into the incident were severely flawed;

(c)

a number of agencies of both the Queensland Government and the Commonwealth Government were strongly criticised for their involvement in events leading up to and during the incident; and

(d)

the Court fined the respondent the amount of $242,000, being the maximum penalty;

(2)

in light of both the judgment and the Coroner’s report, calls on the Government to:

(a)

examine ways of providing educational assistance to the children of the victims and to support appropriate commemorations on Badu, Iama and Thursday islands;

(b)

construct appropriate memorials on Badu, Iama and Thursday Islands to properly commemorate this tragic event and provide respectful places for the families of the victims to pay their respects and remember their loved ones; and

(c)

fully examine the Court’s judgment, including the contractors and others named in the report of the Queensland Coroner, into the same incident;

(3)

strongly encourages the Government to ensure that the Department of Immigration and Citizenship’s contract and tendering procedures are fully reviewed to ensure that lapses such as this do not occur again;

(4)

condemns the Department of Immigration and Citizenship for its gross negligence.

Is the motion seconded?

I second the motion.

The original question was that the motion be agreed to. To this the member for Leichhardt has moved amendments. If there is no objection, I will put the question in the form ‘That the amendments be agreed to’. There being no objection, the immediate question is that the amendments be agreed to.

Question agreed to.

The question now is that the motion, as amended, be agreed to.

Question agreed to.