Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Gallacher, I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) on 6 October 2020, the Senate ordered the Minister for Defence to provide to the Senate Economics Reference Committee all of the Australian Industry Capability (AIC) plans supplied to Defence by prime contractors in the future submarine, future frigate, offshore patrol vessel and pacific patrol boat programs and the Department of Defence's AIC strategy plans,

  (ii) the documents are highly relevant to the committee's inquiry into Australia's sovereign naval shipbuilding capability,

  (iii) on 19 October 2020, the Minister advanced a public interest immunity claim on grounds centring around commercial-in-confidence concerns, and

  (iv) the bar to correctly advance a claim over commercial-in-confidence is high, particularly noting the documents are to be returned to the committee, not to the Senate;

(b) affirms that:

  (i) the balance of the public interest lies in permitting the committee to conduct oversight of the conduct of the Department of Defence in delivering on the Government's commitment to maximise AIC in Australia's $139 billion shipbuilding program, and

  (ii) the Senate does not accept the public interest immunity claim advanced by the Minister for Defence; and

(c) orders the Minister for Defence to comply with the order agreed to by the Senate on 6 October 2020 by providing the documents to the Senate Economic References Committee by 12 November 2020.