Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Conroy sought to base a large part of his argument on the time frames for the merits review and the impact that they would have. We highlight to those on the crossbenches that we do have very specific time lines set out in these amendments and that, yes, merits review processes were previously abolished. However, we are looking at a different approach now and a different system being put in place. It is a system that is, as I said, far more prescriptive in terms of the outcomes. We think that, in terms of a balanced approach, if you have a prescriptive decision-making process at one end, it is quite reasonable to have a merits review process at the other end.

The time lines proposed in these amendments, No 59 and particularly the proposed sections 152BCX and 152BCY, do set out some very tight time lines that will not only limit but effectively prevent the type of gaming that we have seen previously while providing some reasonable level of fairness. So we think that those time lines are a good balance. It is always up for debate but, in terms of what the minister has said, arguing emphatically against a merits review approach is unreasonable. We think that having something in here is better than nothing in this regard. We believe we have got the balance right by putting in place a merits review provision but ensuring that it is one that has some clear, set time periods that ensure that there is not the type of gaming and the type of delaying tactics that we have seen previously. I would ask the crossbenchers to look closely at those time lines to see that we actually do have a process in place that we believe gets that balance right.