Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Hansard source

I move the following amendment to the amendment moved by Senator Fifield:

(a) Paragraph (a), omit "13 May 2014", and substitute "5 June 2014".

(b) Paragraph (c), omit "20 March 2014", and substitute "16 June 2014".

In moving these amendments we strongly support, as Senator Fifield has done, the role of the committees in looking carefully at significant legislation. We have heard, over the last couple of weeks, significant discussion about what the important processes of this place are. The government has moved many times, and publicly stated, that their priorities for the legislative process include a number of bills, but the two of which they speak most often are the repeal of the carbon tax bill and the minerals tax repeal bill. Both of those bills are still before this chamber and are subject to continuing scrutiny and discussion, taking up significant time of senators who wish to take part in that debate.

We heard only yesterday a government senator express concern about the process that they are facing in looking at a range of issues within their committees. On this point, we believe that for the two bills where we have submitted extended reporting dates—the Fair Work Amendment Bill and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Amendment Bill—there are real reasons for them to be subject to scrutiny by the community and through the Senate process because they bring in a range of significant changes. These are not bills that simply reflect what the government said they were going to do; they bring in a further range of issues. You would know, Mr President, that the issues of the Fair Work Amendment Bill and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Amendment Bill engage a wide range of our community.

Sometimes in committee processes we select a list of what we know as 'the usual suspects'—people who work in these areas. The usual suspects are already aware of the provisions. They are ready to talk about them. They have done the work within their own organisations about consultation and discussion.

We believe that on these two particular issues the impact of the bills has a wider range, and that many people need to know about what exactly is in these pieces of legislation so that they can have their opportunity—the opportunity which this Senate committee process allows them to consider the detail of the legislation, consider the personal impact that that may have and, also, work with the government, the opposition, the minor parties and Independents who choose to take part in the committee process—to look at exactly what will be the best impact for them and also the future impacts that will follow as a result of the change in legislation.

The dates that we propose allow that to happen. I know that there was some discussion about this at the Selection of Bills Committee last night. I believe that there is a real argument that, with the current roles and responsibilities of the committees that we have in front of us—the number of references, both in legislation and in wider areas, that the committees are handling at the moment—the later date allows an effective work program for these committees. It is important that senators have the opportunity to attend, that the community has the opportunity to be engaged and that we are able to look at the process effectively through setting our program. Mr President, as you know, the opposition does not set the program of debate in this place—that is the responsibility of the government.

What we are saying is that the role of our committees is to ensure that there is the best possible opportunity for scrutiny. In fact, we say that the role of committees is to scrutinise. Rushing processes limits the availability and the effectiveness of this scrutiny. We believe that the amendments we have made allow that program to operate more effectively, allow the input that you need to have and, also, provide the best possible information for our Senate to then debate effectively what the legislation is, what it means and what possible amendments could be made. We know the role of the committees is to recommend suggestions for how legislation can be made better and work more effectively. Actually, it is the role of our committees, working through the parliament, to ensure that the legislation is effective. We strongly say that these two dates should be amended to allow that to work.