Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister Assisting the Leader for Science) Share this | Hansard source

I indicate to the minister, for the Hansard record, my profound disappointment that the government has sought to present these amendments in this way. This is a matter that has been the subject of two Senate inquiries. The measures in this bill were the subject of a report tabled on Monday which contained the immortal recommendations from government senators that things were just fine and, on the next day, the government took those amendments to its party room and publicly released them, just as I was about to speak on the second reading debate. You will say, 'So what?' It is a hell of a way to consider such fundamental and far-reaching proposals and it should have been done much earlier. I understand they were with the Parliamentary Draftsman at least on Friday last week, so one presumes they were with the government prior to that. The normal process is that these matters would go to cabinet. Instructions would have to have been prepared prior to that, and you would have thought it would be at least a courtesy to engage the opposition in the government's proposals. It may well have been the case that you would get a better result.

As I read it, there has been no consultation outside of the department on these proposals. There has been no consideration of the impact of these proposals within the sector itself. Well may it be that the government is now acknowledging the central truth of the opposition's claims on this matter, that we have to turn off the tap. I welcome the government's acknowledgement of that matter. I am concerned about the nature of these amendments and the extent to which they will indeed fix the problem. My concern also is that the implementation of these measures will be a continuation of the shambolic and chaotic approach that we have seen to date. I will have more to say on this theme, but I ask the minister whether he can enlighten me and the chamber: what is it that the department will need to do between now—that is, 2 December—and the implementation of this matter on 1 January? What will the department actually need to undertake to implement these emergency measures?