Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, art centres already allow access. We did not reach consensus on the issue of permits because we disagreed over all the evidence that we received and what it actually meant. The committee received very strong evidence from a number of submitters and people who appeared at the inquiry who said that they were very strongly concerned about the removal of the permit system and the impact it will have in allowing carpetbaggers into community. We received some evidence where people were saying, as Senator Scullion just quoted, that they did not mind having the permit system removed. But we received a lot of evidence that people were very concerned about the removal of the permit system and the inability to then control carpetbaggers coming into community. There were some very good examples given of how the permit system had in the past helped to control carpetbaggers. The committee did not reach a conclusion on that because we could not reach a consensus.