Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Ludlam, you are probably one of the few people around who would be aware of my original 10 amendments to this bill, one of which was pretty much identical to your amendment today. As I said the other day, I did not lose the fight, but I was compelled by the argument that this could be protected under the Customs Act. I agreed to that, but you know the way these sorts of things go.

One of the issues that we deal with in this place, Senator Ludlam, is providing comfort to those who might be concerned about something. Even if we have one particular piece of legislation that says quite specifically that you cannot import something under the Customs Act because it is existing legislation, people will feel happier if we have a particular piece of legislation that actually says, above and beyond whatever particular act that we have quite reasonably used to prevent any import, that we specifically proscribe something that gets rid of that particular fear.

That was one of the 10 points that served as the amendments to the original bill. So I commend you very highly on convincing the government in a way I was not able to convince my government, I have to admit. I think this is certainly something that those people who argue that there is still some possibility of somebody else's international waste coming into Australia can now put to bed. We will be supporting the amendments.

Question agreed to.