Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I draw the Senate's attention to the reality of the work of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services. It is the statutory responsibility of that committee to inquire into the effectiveness of ASIC's enforcement measures and to make sure that we do our proper judicious work in supervising that entity. Senator Bragg and Senator McKim are both members of that committee, and it was within that committee this morning that we adopted the terms of reference that are here on the Notice Paper before senators, with the addition of one further item: the effectiveness of ASIC's enforcement measures in protecting vulnerable Australians.

If this bill is supported it will lead to a duplication of this inquiry in two different places. In fact, this is the construction of a platform for Senator Bragg, who is on both committees, to provide himself with an opportunity for media, not for the service of the Australian people. I urge senators to vote against this. We should be absolutely working on this in the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services. (Time expired)