Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The government's intentions are made very clear in the design principles. That's why we've said that Voice members would fall within the scope of the National Anti-Corruption Commission. It's good to see that that body is going to be starting on 1 July, by the way. It's something that didn't seem to happen under the former government. There were a few promises made. In fact, I think you might have made some of those promises, Senator Cash, when you were the Attorney-General. But, anyway, this government's going to actually have a National Anti-Corruption Commission—and that's a very good thing—from 1 July this year.

I'm pleased to see that the design principles include that Voice members would fall within the scope of that commission. It's also our intention that Voice members would be able to be sanctioned or removed for serious misconduct, and that is why it's set out in the design principles. But I don't think it's really any surprise, by this stage of the debate, that there are a significant number of matters that will be left for the democratically elected parliament to decide, and the issues you're talking about are among them.