James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Wong. Indeed, they were told that they were included—as they should be—and then had the opportunity to have their input, both directly to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade about the provisions of the bill and through a Senate inquiry of the very committee that this Senate has formed to consider the bill. So the universities have been consulted. They didn't have privileged access to a government announcement before it was made, as indeed that wasn't appropriate. As the minister observed, it would be absurd if they, as publicly funded institutions established under state and territory legislation, were not included in this bill, which I think is a point of agreement across the chamber.