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

I will not go into any great detail. The government has done well in examining the Senate committee report. I was perhaps remiss. I do appreciate the effort of the government in looking at the report, taking the recommendations into account and reflecting them in the legislation in such a quick way. I should not let that pass, because I have been disappointed with the government many times before. When the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee has made substantive recommendations, they have not been, in my view, properly scrutinised or considered in any detailed way, nor moved by the government. They were left to the opposition to move, debate and argue. In this instance, I do not have to do that. The government has seen fit to pick up the recommendations. I thank the government for that. I sit on that committee, and it is appreciated by the committee that these recommendations have been examined and picked up by the government.

If there is some movement, it reflects upon the opposition to not stand by all the other recommendations. We consider that, on balance, there has been a significant shift by the government to improve the legislation, although we do not think they have gone far enough. The minister is correct in saying that we do support the bill and its ability to improve the ability to check more generally in this area.