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

If I may circumvent this: I know I am now doing this on my feet—and I thank Senator Fielding for his indication of support, which would have meant that we could have bowled over this amendment—nevertheless, I have been taking a very reasonable and measured approach, as is my want. I had to say it, Minister, as nobody else would! Could we add a subclause that says, ‘No employer is required to disclose confidential information, the disclosure of which would be contrary to the employer’s other legal obligations, in particular under the Corporations Act’? That is our concern. If that would be acceptable to the government, then we could have a way through this.

Minister, I have a hunch that this might come back to the Senate in any event. If that were to be the case then we could knock out this amendment but indicate the opposition’s willingness to revisit it on its return for the purposes of putting in an amendment which, of course, allows for consultation. You would expect a good employer to do that in any event, but we do not want the consultation mandated in the legislation in circumstances where the good employer might say, ‘Well, under this act I have to, but under another one, if it gets out, I would be in breach of the Corporations Act.’ So I give that as an option to the minister as to which way he would prefer to handle it.