Kate Lundy (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

A point of clarification: the Houston report in making these recommendations does not require these matters to be legislated. I have already stated that the arrangements would have to be agreed upon. So in accepting the recommendations of the Houston report we agree as a country to put in place those assurances, but nowhere does it specify that they ought to be legislated, hence they are not part of the legislation. I also want to make the point that, if they were accepted, each of the amendments proposed could potentially give rise to a basis for a potential legal challenge on the basis of what is an appropriate standard. The government is of the view that it is appropriate that the designation itself is subject to parliamentary scrutiny and in that way these agreements and the recommendations we have accepted would be tested fully under the scrutiny of parliament.