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

In other words, it's not going to be independent. The concern here is the need for independence of the review, particularly given that this is operating 18 months after the process started. We haven't had that initial review process. I heard what the minister said about consultation beforehand. It's a bit of a different story from what I heard during the Senate inquiry into this legislation. There was a lot of criticism and concern from stakeholders around the way this compliance process is going to operate, so I am deeply concerned to ensure that the review is independent of the department.

The other concern there is that the department undertakes a number of reviews and then we don't see them for a long time—or, in fact, we don't see them. If we were to have an independent review process with annual reviews carried out independently, I'm more confident that we would be able to see the reviews, and I think it would give the community a sense of security that the review is independent. They would, quite frankly, have more faith in the review. I'm trying not to malign the department, but they are reviewing the system that they oversee. We need that to be independent. So I express deep concern around the fact that it's not independent and I seek a guarantee from the government around the time frame of the review—that it will be released to the public and that it will be released in a timely manner.