Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

I'll just give an indication of Labor's voting position on these amendments: we will be supporting these amendments. Certainly under the product stewardship arrangements that Labor put in place in 2011 there was an independent statutory body in the form of the Product Stewardship Advisory Group, and it was taken away by the Abbott government, which, not unlike this government, had a general aversion to independent advice and oversight. While Labor was successful in getting the government to strengthen consultation through amendments made in the other place—for example, by inserting a requirement that the minister must consult with states and territories and also with the soon-to-be-formed Product Stewardship Centre of Excellence—we consider that there is real merit in the proposal before us. There's little doubt that an independent statutory advisory group would be a better and stronger source of input and assessment.