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

Just briefly, I will make an observation on that, and then I will move my amendment, for the benefit of the chamber, so it shouldn't go too far. That last part of the minister's answer was revealing. It appears very clear then that the cat is now out of the bag: the government does intend to appoint a member of the crossbench or a minor party. Otherwise, all this amendment seeks to do is formalise the convention, which is well established on this committee and respected by both parties when in government, save for one brief exception—which I think it's worth pointing out was in the minority parliament period of the Gillard government, who clearly as a result of that were forced to do a deal with then-crossbencher Mr Wilkie to put him on the committee in exchange for confidence and supply. That is not the case today. This government has a clear majority in the lower house—maybe not a comfortable one but a clear one. That means that it is not necessary for them to do a deal with Andrew Wilkie for confidence and supply, or with any other crossbencher or minor party member. So they could formalise the convention on this committee that says that only members of the government and the opposition serve on this committee and which preserves the balance. It concerns me, from the minister's answer, that the government in fact intends to use this opportunity to dilute the opposition presence on this committee and to increase the government's proportion of the committee. That would be very concerning. With that, I move the amendment on sheet 1982:

(1) Schedule 1, item 11, page 7 (lines 4 to 13), omit the item, substitute:

11 Subsections 28(2) and (3)

Repeal the subsections (not including the note), substitute:

(2) The Committee is to consist of 13 members and must include at least:

(a) 4 members of the Senate; and

(b) 4 members of the House of Representatives.

(3) The members must consist of the following:

(a) 7 members who are Government members;

(b) 6 members who are Opposition members.