Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for that very important further supplementary question. Unfortunately, there is a potential delay in the passage of this legislation for at least a further three months. This particular piece of legislation, as I have outlined, provides vital regulatory framework that is important to the supervision of and the confidence in the Australian share market, and this is to be delayed, on resolution of the opposition, for a further three months. One of the great difficulties in this approach—aside from the fact the Liberal opposition obviously cannot make up their mind about this particular issue after one year’s debate and consultation, following a gap in the law that they left for 12 years—is that the regulator is actually trying, after lifting a temporary ban on short selling, to implement a covered short selling regime and a total ban on naked short selling. Unfortunately, it does not have the regulatory powers that it needs to underpin the regime that it is in fact trying to implement at the present time in current, very difficult market circumstances. (Time expired)