Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

I do apologise to Senator Lambie. I am very passionate as well about the suicides that have happened in the Defence Force. Answers need to be had. But, to extend an inquiry out—and it was regarded to the terms of reference to a royal commission—there has to be no undertaking that the government will have a royal commission. What I have suggested to the government and to Senator Lambie is to let the commissioner do his job. He will be independent of the government and will do investigations into previous deaths that have happened. Let him come down with his findings. If that is not the case then the Senate can review that, look at how we will proceed with this and then possibly take it to a royal commission. But to have a commissioner in this position has never happened, and I believe that we need to actually move forward with this.

Senator Lambie, you have the opportunity now—a commissioner has been appointed and will be named—for a three-month period to have your inquiry, as you wished, and it's been referred to foreign affairs, defence and trade. So I would suggest that you've got an opportunity now to have that inquiry. I support the government's amendment to this.