Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

This was an issue we discussed last night that we weren't able to reach agreement on. The government's preferred position is that we refer, but with a reporting date so that we can start considering this bill during the September sittings. We would facilitate briefings and the opportunities for crossbenchers and the opposition to discuss that legislation with ministers, but our preference is to have this legislation ready to debate in September. We don't think it is that complex, actually, to establish Jobs and Skills Australia. It is a key commitment of ours that we took to the election, and we want to get cracking on it.

If the committee doesn't report until the end of September, then we potentially won't be able to program this in the October sittings, when we have the budget and then budget estimates. Then we're leaving this right until the end of the year, when we have a range of other priorities, before we're able to establish this agency. I think, if the committee wants the referral, then the committee should get to work between now and the next sitting. It's a month. You can conduct a pretty reasonable inquiry in a month's time.

That is certainly the government's preference. I can see from contributions from others, though, that we don't have the numbers to stop that referral to the 28th, but our strong preference would be that people consider dealing with this as soon as possible so the legislation is available for debate in this chamber in the September sittings.