Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That general business notice of motion no. 2 standing in my name for today, relating to the Disallowance of the Export Control (Fees) Amendment Orders 2009 (No. 1), be postponed until 20 August.

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Leave granted.

The opposition obviously have some considerable concerns with this process. We have received a number of representations from the agricultural sector with respect to the proposals put forward by the government. I am pleased to say, though, that we have been able to have some productive discussions with the government in the last couple of days, as I understand others have too. We have reached some agreements with respect to where this matter lies, but the purpose in postponing this motion is, in a sense, to keep the government on notice that we maintain a watching brief with respect to this matter. We will be seeking to keep the government to certain assurances that have been given to us and others. Over the winter break we will certainly be scrutinising the progress of the proposed reform program that the government has put forward. It may be that we have to come back to this matter again in August, which is the purpose for postponing the motion. But we do acknowledge that it has been possible to have some fruitful discussions with the government overnight so that we can, at this point in time, postpone this motion.

Question agreed to.