Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility) Share this | Hansard source

I want to raise a couple of issues. This is essentially a regulation-making function, and the minister has outlined, frankly, at a very high level—not much detail—the need to have much-needed flexibility and the suggestion that the various functions prescribed in the act limit important Comcare activities. I wonder if we would be able to get a little more information about that, given that this is a new amendment. Firstly, what are the functions that the government says are unable to be undertaken by Comcare as a result of the current structure of the legislation and the current iteration of the functions that Comcare is entitled to undertake? Secondly, why has the government not sought to limit the regulation-making function in relation to this provision by, for example, making reference to the issues which may be covered rather than having what is a quite open-ended regulation power?