Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Hansard source

Can I disabuse Senator O’Brien of any notion that there is a secret agenda. If there is a secret agenda it is so secret that nobody in the government knows about it. But, if Senator O’Brien’s amendment were agreed to, there would be no designated company as at 1 July 2008 in the event the demerger does not occur or a new entity does not happen. That would therefore mean the end of the single desk. I am not sure that that would be necessarily the outcome that people would want. Having said that, it is not expected to happen in any event because the Prime Minister said in that statement of 22 May that I have referred to on a number of occasions that, in the event that there is no new entity by 1 March 2008, new legislation would be considered and further legislation would be introduced, and that gives us a window of opportunity of some three months.