Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Just briefly on that, I thought there was some thought that state governments might be referring their powers. If that were to occur—as I recall, it was part of the hearings of the Senate committee—state police forces might then have difficulty. I am aware of the current circumstance in relation to state government employees.

As an aside, I was amazed at the number of emails I got encouraging the Senate to pass the IR legislation without delay, and, when you look at the email addresses, they virtually all emanated from state government departments in Tasmania which, of course, are not impacted by the legislation that they complained about. But that is just an interesting aside—I hope it is interesting, Minister! The referral of powers, as I understand it, may have an impact on state police forces. Could that be clarified at some time?