Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move Greens amendments (36) and (37) on sheet 7676:

(36) Page 395 (after line 24), at the end of Part 2, add:

411A Publication of approved arrangement

(1) The relevant Director must publish, on the relevant Department's website, a proposed arrangement that is approved under this Part as soon as practicable.

(2) An approval that is published under subsection (1) must include:

  (a) any conditions to which the approved arrangement is subject; and

  (b) the period for which the approved arrangement is to be in force.

(3) The published approval must not include any protected information.

(37) Page 398 (after line 25), at the end of Part 3, add:

416A Publication of variation to approved arrangement

(1) The relevant Director must publish, on the relevant Department's website, the following as soon as practicable:

  (a) any variations to the conditions of an approved arrangement under this Division;

  (b) any variations to approved arrangements.

(2) The published variations must not include any protected information.

I indicate that these will be the last amendments that I will be moving. These amendments relate to the public release of approved arrangements to be published on the departmental website. The problem that a lot of community members are having—and there has been a long history of this—is that biosecurity is in fact characterised by a lack of transparency. We believe that publishing of approved arrangements would allow greater oversight. These amendments have the support of a wide variety of stakeholders. We believe it is important that these arrangements are released. I understand that some arrangements may be commercial-in-confidence. I understand that process, but we think that this should not stop some form of the release of these approved arrangements.

I understand that the government are going to say no to these amendments—they have telegraphed that fairly clearly—but I ask the government what they are prepared to do to increase transparency on this issue. I think it would help a lot in terms of people understanding how they come to decisions and the broader community's understanding of biosecurity.