Kay Patterson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to draw the honourable senator’s attention to item 47B, on page 25 of the bill, which says:

Minister to report to Parliament

1. The Minister must prepare a report on the following matters:

1. the establishment of a National Stem Cell Centre and a national register of donated excess ART embryos—

and I know that Senator Nettle is fully across this, but I just want to make sure it is there and on the public record, because not everyone gets into as much detail on the bill as some of us have—

2. the making of guidelines referred to in this Act, to the extent that those guidelines were not in force on the day on which this Act commenced.

2. The report must be completed not later than 6 months after the day on which Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction and the Regulation of Human Embryo Research Amendment Act 2006 commenced.

It puts some teeth—more than there have been before—into the establishment of a stem cell bank. If I were a minister I would be thinking about how I was going to answer that when the Prime Minister has indicated that the government is prepared for it. That is why I have put that clause in there—to bring it to some sort of head.

Question put:

That the amendment (Senator Nettle’s) be agreed to.