James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Hansard source

Just briefly, on that question: I'm glad Senator Shoebridge has now read out the full provision of the bill rather than quoting from it selectively. It requires that the Prime Minister have regard 'to the desirability of'. It does not require that the PJCIS be representative of the parliament. I wasn't there when the bill was drafted and I can't imagine exactly what was in the minds of the drafters, but they very clearly could have required the Prime Minister of the day or the parliament to ensure the committee was strictly representative of the parliament. The bill does not do that, and I suspect they did so for a reason. Accordingly, I moved the amendment on sheet 1979 standing in my name:

(1) Schedule 1, Part 3, page 7 (lines 1 to 23), to be opposed.

Just to explain, this amendment seeks to remove all provisions relating to the PJCIS from this bill so that the status quo would prevail. If this amendment is not successful, I have a subsequent amendment I will then move.