Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Allison, for the sake of brevity it would be easier, if you want our agreement, to remove (3A)(a). I am not convinced it adds anything to what the commissioner would already do in similar circumstances anyway. It is the issue of bias which is central to this matter and which has concerned us and is before us now, with (b) being the germane issue. I think (a) complicates the matter more than it needs to. I suspect it is a matter that would be taken into consideration by a commissioner anyway. They meet these all the time in royal commissions. I am sure they met it at the bottom of the harbour at that famous commission but dealt with it accordingly, and also at many others since then. So it probably does not serve any purpose, although I can see it may add a belt and braces approach. In that sense I think it is adequately dealt with, but if you want our support we are happy to have (3A)(a) deleted and (b) renumbered as (a). If not, you can proceed.