Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I wonder if the minister has an answer to my first question, so I will raise that now. Whilst I am on my feet, I will raise another issue that arises and that is that, in the conduct of the commission, as I understand it, the existing powers under quarantine legislation with regard to search have been retained, rather than those from the royal commission. As I understand it, inquiries are being conducted by officers of the department, AQIS or both into the circumstances around the outbreak or outbreak and spread—depending on your preference for how it should be expressed—and those officers’ inquiries will be able to be included in the evidence of Mr Callinan’s inquiry, without any other special provision, if this legislation is passed. Is the legislation sufficient to allow Mr Callinan to conduct separate and independent inquiries—that is, independent of officers of the department, AQIS et cetera—to be certain that the evidence is being pursued without fear or favour in relation to what might have been a performance, or lack of it, by departmental officers or the agency or whatever? There are two questions there.