Santo Santoro (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

The amendment moved by the Democrats would enable expert advice to be provided directly to the minister. We suggest that it is possible for anyone, including council and committees, to provide advice directly to the minister if they wish to do so. Anyone can do this, and I suggest that this is a central tenet of democracy. However, the government has made it equally clear that there must be clear lines of accountability for both financial and operational issues associated with statutory bodies. It is critical that the CEO manages all aspects of the NHMRC, including the flow of advice from the council and its principal committees. This ensures that the minister is not presented with ad hoc advice that is outside the priorities of the NHMRC.

The legislation does, however, have an important safeguard in that it expressly describes the process for council and committees to develop advice and the process by which the CEO operationalises this advice through guidelines and recommendations. The legislation expressly provides that the CEO cannot change the advice of the council, irrespective of what his or her personal views may be. The development of advice through council and up to the CEO is also a transparent process that is subject to annual reporting. In this context the government does not support any measure that undermines this transparency or continues the confusion surrounding lines of accountability and advice. For those reasons, the government cannot support the amendment moved by Senator Allison.