Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement for three minutes—I don't think I'll need that time!—on the same matter.

Leave granted.

I start by thanking all the members of the NACC committee but particularly the chair of the NACC committee, Senator White. Setting up a new committee in a space such as this is not necessarily the easiest process, and there are always matters that need to be ironed out until committees—to use a very poor sporting analogy—find their line and length, particularly when you are in a quite unique relationship, as Senator White pointed out, with a member of the executive—in this case, the Attorney-General.

There are a number of committees in this place, but the one that I am closest to, as the chair, is the Privileges Committee. It is so important that these committees act in a collegiate fashion and, more than that, in a nonpartisan fashion. Matters such as privilege, such as the operations and oversight of the Anti-Corruption Commission, will fail if they become partisan playthings. It's very important that such committees operate in a collegiate manner. There were some matters that we discussed internally. I won't talk about what they were; they were more matters of process, and they certainly had nothing to do with the appropriateness of the candidates. But there were some issues that needed to be considered by the committee. That was done in a very timely way, and I think, in the end, we have reached a very positive position, and I think the committee has shown it can work very well together.

Like Senator White, I thank all those who put their names forward for positions on the National Anti-Corruption Commission. These roles are going to be vitally important going forward, and they have a huge challenge ahead of them. We thank all those who put their names forward and congratulate those who have been appointed today.