Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Hansard source

Minister, let me be more direct. I raised concerns, hopeful that I was going to get an answer which explained the dangerous shambles that the rushing through of this legislation has caused, in particular in relation to the sensitive matter of child support cases and the work of Services Australia. If the public service employees of Services Australia are listening to this debate, can I say to you: when I considered this legislation as it came through the Senate Standing Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs, I had no inkling that it was going to have this unintended consequence on you. You do have my sympathies. Minister, because of the way that section 25 of the original ART Bill was drafted, is it not correct that Services Australia is now required to manually review each customer file that is before the tribunal every 28 days to ensure that it complies with the existing section 25? Isn't that the practical consequence of the ART Bill having been rushed through?