Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, Carers and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition yesterday requested that the government put this amendment to the end of the list of amendments in order to provide us with a briefing. These amendments were drafted on the 11th of this month and circulated on the 16th, so there was a delay in getting these to the other parties in this chamber. That did not afford us the opportunity to form a full view on the amendments put by the government, so we sought and received a briefing this morning. That briefing did not provide the opposition with total comfort, partly because we have not had the opportunity to consult with the range of stakeholders and experts that we would have in the usual course of events. We did flag in the second reading debate that we feared the government would seek to find a way for small business to top up the government’s own scheme. This part of the legislation has clearly been rushed.

The opposition will not be seeking to oppose this, because we do not want to frustrate this legislation. But be it on the government’s head how this particular section is drafted. We do maintain some serious reservations. I know some of my colleagues—including, I think, Senator Fisher—will be ventilating some of those. I state that the opposition, although it has reservations, will not be opposing these amendments.