Chris Ellison (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I place on record that the government supports the declaration of senators’ interests—I want to make that absolutely clear—that we participate in the committee and that the Prime Minister has a demand that ministers report to him personally in relation to that. We have just seen how that works, and it has worked effectively. So to say that the government does not support it is quite wrong. It is a question of whether you want to codify something or rely on practice which has been established over a period of time. The government’s view is that practice and precedent have been established, and I will not go over the ground that I have previously outlined, while the Democrats say that you should codify it. We do not agree.