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

Senator Hanson-Young—sorry, my mind is moving quickly because I'm unclear about what Senator Ruston just said. This is not, and will not be, the normal practice of how we deal with bills. This is an exceptional set of circumstances and an issue that has been compounded by the election and the commencement of the new parliament. In an ideal set of circumstances we would have much preferred to have more time for people to consider the legislation, albeit that it is fairly straightforward. This has been an issue under the attention of the former government for a period of time, and it came to me relatively early in taking on the role of Minister for Finance. The assurance we give you is that this is not the way we will be conducting legislation in this place. It is a very unique set of circumstances.

In relation to the comments—and we can probably deal with this better in debate on the bill: this is not about ripping things away from the Public Service or being disrespectful to the Public Service. The bill is about clarifying the administrative practice that has existed for a period of time since 1986 and ensuring that the legislation basically follows the administrative practice. We are happy to have that debate during the bill itself. But I can guarantee this is not the way we will be proceeding with legislation in this place. It is the exception rather than the rule.