Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I think this is a really important issue, because Senator Abetz asked Minister Ludwig questions about what precedes a declaration. Minister Ludwig has told us that there can be an interim declaration of up to two months, which he says deals with due process and fairness. And then there is the second-stage process to deal with the suspension of up to two years. But if we cannot be confident in this process of the work that Minister Burke has done to deal with his 'uncertainties' through this process, how can we have some confidence as to what he might be required to do as part of a declaration process? In this circumstance he is bringing in legislation. In the next process, if he does not do anything to deal with these uncertainties, he could be making decisions without any core information, and then how is due process, or fair process, dealt with as part of making a declaration?