Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I will take on notice some of those matters from Senator Xenophon, particularly the arrival of Mr Parker in his office. But, in relation to some of these other matters, I think it is really important to stress that the Australian Public Service is a source of independent advice, and I hope that there is a reflection on their professionalism in none of the contributions we have heard today, particularly from Senator Lines. I presume there is no reflection on the independence of the Australian Public Service. I know we want to get this through quickly, but I say to Senator Xenophon, in particular, that what we desperately need to have is industry responding to changing scenarios. The issue has been, all the way through, in relation to AWPA and other measures, that industry is not engaged.

What this government has quite clearly said is that it is going to engage with industry. They are very, very important partners in the way forward. My understanding is that at the last AWPA scenario day, where a number of research projects were planned, there was little, if any, industry attendance. That is just crazy, and the government have moved very quickly since we were elected to actively engage with industry. There has been very widespread and extensive consultation, including a ministerial round table in January, national face-to-face and online stakeholder workshops from February to April and written feedback from stakeholders. I commend the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency Repeal Bill 2014 to the Senate, and the government will not be supporting the second reading amendment.