David Fawcett (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I draw the Senate's attention to the evidence given by the RSL during the inquiry around the issue of consultation. The minister had made comment that there was wide consultation. Does the senator believe that consultation is required? Rear Admiral Doolan said:

The point we made earlier on was that the first we knew of this was when the legislation was brought forward. When we became aware of the legislation, we were on a short timescale to provide input to this Senate committee, which we did.

It became apparent that it was a prebudget eve briefing that they had received on the information. When we brought this up with DVA and asked, 'Did you consult?' one of the officials responded:

As the RSL have said, we regularly provide a prebudget briefing, and that is on the day of the budget. In that briefing we explained a whole range of measures coming through in the budget, including offsetting, and explained that the intention of the amendment … But it is true that there was no extensive prebudget consultation about the amendment itself.

So they clearly said that there was no extensive prebudget consultation, which puts lie to the claim that there has been widespread consultation. My question is: do you support the need to consult with key stakeholders in this whole process?