Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a statement before moving general business notice of motion No. 530 which relates to an extension of time for the committee to report.

Leave granted.

I sought leave so that I could explain why the Community Affairs Committee is seeking to extend the time for the committee to report. I know there is a great deal of interest in this inquiry, which is about the practices and policies of the Commonwealth in relation to forced adoption in this country. We have had an overwhelming number of submissions. We have already held inquiries around most capital cities in this country and we were expecting to report on 21 November.

Due to the extraordinary number of submissions and the interest in this committee, we have not been able to complete our inquiry to our satisfaction and we would not be able to deliver a satisfactory report on 21 November. We are therefore seeking an extension of this inquiry to 29 February. We plan to hold two more public hearings, one in Sydney and one in Hobart. We need to drill down further into some of the evidence we have received. That is why we are seeking this extension. I have as a matter of courtesy contacted some of the major interest groups and other people who are interested in this to let them know. They understand why we are seeking this extension. I acknowledge that there are a number of people who desperately wanted us to report on 21 November. But to keep faith with the evidence that we have received and in order to do our job thoroughly we are seeking this extension. I move:

That the time for the presentation of the report of the Community Affairs References Committee on the Commonwealth contribution to former forced adoption policies be extended to 29 February 2012.

Question agreed to.