Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport) Share this | Hansard source

I understand, then, that the government’s position is to seek to maintain political control over these decisions if it is not prepared to indicate what sorts of inquiries would be inappropriate for the inspector to conduct. We understand that position. In relation to our amendment proposing new clause 64A, I heard the minister suggest that the government is disposed to brief the opposition on security matters. I fail to understand why the government is then not prepared to commit in the legislation to giving a copy of each final report of the Inspector of Transport Security to the Leader of the Opposition. The amendment states:

... the Leader of the Opposition must not disclose any part of the report or information in a report that is not tabled in Parliament or that is not disclosed in a statement tabled in Parliament in accordance with paragraph 64(1)(c).

That seems to indicate that the government reserves the right to withhold from the Leader of the Opposition matters contained in such a report. Given the minister’s earlier statement, can the minister explain why the government will not be supporting at least that amendment?