Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Hansard source

The motion would represent an unreasonable diversion of resources requiring reconfiguration of data that's already published on a more regular basis on AusTender. It incorrectly assumes that the main consultancy firms are identical for all portfolios. The transparency.gov.au website already publishes data on the largest consultancy contracts for all agencies, with top-ranked suppliers differing for many agencies. The last limb of the motion seeks documents that are usually protected by a diverse range of legitimate public interest immunities. It would be an unreasonable diversion of resources to perform immunity reviews, consultations and redactions on every such report when it's open to the Senate to seek only those documents of interest. This diversion of resources will subtract from frontline public services.