Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

As a former Chair of the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills, I wish to join Senator Coonan in her remarks as the current Chair of the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills. I think this is one of the most important committees that operate in our Senate. I know that internationally we are regarded very highly because of the work of this committee. The excellent work of the committee would not have been possible without the counsel we have had for the last 25 years from Emeritus Professor Jim Davis.

Jim—if we could be so cheeky as to call him that—has made an extraordinary contribution, as Senator Coonan has said, to the operations of the parliament, particularly to the operations of the Senate. His legal knowledge is extraordinary. Those of us who have had the privilege of serving on this committee have had an amount of legal training that I do not know that you would get at university. That is something that we are very grateful for. On behalf of the government, we wish him all the best in his retirement and hope that it is a long and happy one.

Question agreed to.