Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also want to speak briefly on this matter because I am Deputy Chair of the Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Committee to which these bills are being referred and will have to deal with the practical problems in developing a report after scrutinising the legislation which is not before the Senate at this time. While we can have political positions about the legislation, when it comes to the practical task of reviewing and scrutinising this legislation it becomes incredibly difficult for us and demeans the Senate processes when we do not have the opportunity to have the legislation in advance and when people who wish to make submissions do not have the opportunity to fully consider the legislation. I do not know how long the bill will be, but the act it will seek to amend is a significant and complex one. The last amendment bill was the Work Choices amendment bill, which was a 600-page amendment bill and created a new bill which sought to fundamentally restructure existing legislation. There are still issues that people are trying to work out. There are still court determinations being made to interpret some of this legislation. To re-amend that bill and to get some proper advice and considered opinions from those interested—the public, trade unions, employer organisations—will take time. If they do not have the time to consider it and if the submissions that they make to our committee are not properly considered, then the task of the committee in scrutinising the legislation is made even more difficult.

We take it as a matter of course these days that the government does not allow us adequate time to scrutinise these matters in the first place. But it makes a mockery of the process, with even that short time to scrutinise the legislation, if the submissions cannot be fully considered because people do not have enough time to fully reflect on the legislation in front of them. The government seeks to refer these bills and we appreciate that; that is one of the fundamental roles of the Senate. But if you are referring them just so you can say that the Senate has gone through its process, again it makes a mockery of the whole system. If we are going to do the job of scrutinising legislation as we should, we should be afforded the necessary time, resources and ability to do our work properly. Having rushed reports and rushed inquiries does nothing for the reputation of this place. I am disappointed, as deputy chair of this committee who will have the practical responsibility of trying to pull together this report, that it is being conducted in such a way. The government should reconsider and should give a reasonable time. Once the legislation is in the public domain or introduced in the Senate, that is when we should start determining times for submissions and times for the Senate to do its job through the committee process. Adequate time should then be allowed for us to reflect on the submissions, reflect on the arguments put before us, reflect on the legislation we have actually seen and be able to prepare a considered report for the Senate as a whole.