Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I wish to inform the Senate that Senator Eric Abetz, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation, will be absent from question time today and tomorrow, 2 March. Senator Abetz is representing the Australian government at a meeting in Paris of the ministerial High Seas Task Force on illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing and will also attend bilateral meetings in relation to forestry in the United Kingdom. During Senator Abetz’s absence, Senator Ian Campbell will answer questions on behalf of the portfolios of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; Employment and Workplace Relations; Workforce Participation; Special Minister of State; and Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation.

I also take this opportunity to advise the Senate that from today Senator Helen Coonan, the Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts and the most senior woman in the government, will take questions on behalf of the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women’s Issues.