Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

First of all, I put on record that we will be supporting the Greens' amendments to this Selection of Bills Committee report. I find it quite extraordinary that the minister opposite would come in here and deny this place its actual role. This is the place of review. Today, we've seen the government try to push for these two bills to be reported on by February, throughout a period when we're hoping that some people in this place may have the opportunity to spend some time with loved ones. Instead, the government want senators, in the family-friendly environment that they've created here, to work through the Christmas break and January so that the government can get these bills through committee inquiries in an expedited time. Given the time-critical nature of these particular bills, all we're talking about is probably seven or eight weeks to enable two really important committees of this parliament to have the opportunity to fully scrutinise bills which the minister herself has said are extremely important. If they are so extremely important, what is the problem with providing a little bit of extra time to enable the committees to do their job, to do it fully and to report back to this place?

One of the things that has become part of the track record of this government is that they rush things through and then we have to go back later to fix up the mess. In fact the bills we are currently debating in this place, that Senator Paterson has been putting through this place this week, are an absolute classic example of making haste too hastily. If you'd bothered to take the time to get it right in the first place, or if you took the opportunity to start the process when the process was flagged that it should have been started, then some of these things could have been expedited in a more timely fashion.

One of the things that we will not do as a coalition, we will not allow the government to rush things through this place when the consequences often have an impact on Australians. That's because this government don't always get it right because they're in such a hurry to fix a problem. It seems a completely and utterly reasonable thing for these bills to be referred until April, as has been done by the Greens.

Another part of their other track record that we are seeing here is this complete and utter aversion to any transparency at all. One of the big problems we see with a lot of the legislation that comes in here is it's all very high level, it's all very 'frameworky' but there is no detail in it. Time and time again we see legislation with so little detail and so much left to the delegated legislation, which they will not show you until after the bill has been passed. The opportunity for the committees to flush out some of this lack of detail that's contained in the legislation is one of the most important processes of Senate committees. What the Greens have done here, and what we are going to support—we're calling out the government and saying: 'You need to provide greater transparency. You need to let some sunlight shine on your legislation because of your refusal to provide the detail of much of the legislation.'

Once again, lack of consultation means legislation often isn't developed properly. So instead of us having to come in here and clean up your mess after the mess has been created, we think we should do what this place is supposed to do, as the house of review of this parliament, and have a thorough look at it in the first place. Let's get everything right. Let's make sure that if there are amendments that need to be put to any of this legislation, we have the opportunity for the stakeholders to have their say. Because you know what? Policy that is not informed by the people it impacts is policy that is invariably poor.

What we're asking this place to do and what we're asking the chamber to vote for is to have adequate time so that we can scrutinise what this government doesn't want scrutinised. Every single time we see any bill of any consequence, it is pushed through here with great speed. And it seems almost ironical, doesn't it, that the very day we have sat in this place and guillotined one of the most important pieces of legislation for my home community in South Australia and many communities up and down the length and breadth of the Murray-Darling Basin, the government want to truncate the time that is available for this place and for a very important Senate committee to actually scrutinise these bills. We're starting to see a really troubling track record here from those opposite: they come in here, they push their way through and they try to deny scrutiny. And if they don't get their own way, they guillotine it. We will support the Greens amendment because we believe in transparency.