Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you. I just wanted to take the opportunity to ask the minister, Senator Ian Campbell, what the government’s response is to the three recommendations of the majority report to the parliament. The minister might remember—I raised this in my speech in the debate on the second reading—that I do not think the committee has yet heard what the government’s attitude is to these recommendations. Recommendation 1 related to the issue of heritage properties within the Australian Capital Territory that are on designated Commonwealth land. It appeared there was an unintended consequence from the bill that needed some correction. The second recommendation related to issues with the wording of proposed new section 179(6). The third recommendation was simply a recommendation which hopefully the minister will be able to use in negotiations on the budget. There was quite a deal of evidence suggesting that perhaps the department was a fraction underresourced to do the very significant work expected of it in relation to this bill. At an appropriate time, I ask if the minister could indicate what the government’s response is to those three recommendations by the majority committee.