Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

It's a curious way to characterise what I consider a very straightforward process of public consultation. I won't go through the time line again, but the government has taken the approach of consulting very, very widely with a very wide range of stakeholders over an extended period of time in arriving at this point.

Senator Duniam, you are quite right that the position paper released on 8 August 2022 asked a series of questions and sought feedback on them. The position paper released on 10 January this year similarly sought feedback on a range of more detailed propositions. Consultation on the detail that is before the parliament and the detail that is proposed to be placed into the associated subordinate legislation has been very wideranging indeed. Not only is that not unusual from a government committed to a proper policy process; it's actually necessary. A very large range of people have been engaged in discussions. I am not personally privy to every one of them, but I am conscious that both the department and the minister have been engaged with a range of stakeholders in bringing this together. As to the specific questions around drafting, I'll see what information I can provide to you, but drafting is the end product of a policy process, and the policy process has been very public indeed.