David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I know you are reading from the explanatory memorandum of the bill as initially drafted. As a result of the concerns that were raised in the course of the review by the legal and constitutional committee, a number of amendments have been brought, including on sheet GF100. One part of those amendments is to remove some of the initial provisions in the bill. By doing that, the government has listened to and responded to the concerns that have been raised by NGOs and others, particularly the Law Council, who I know Senator Scarr has repeatedly referenced in this debate as an important stakeholder. The Law Council has urged the government to put those amendments forward, and I note the government has listened to those concerns. What that will do is reinstate the discretion that the tribunal has to receive applications even if there is a technical defect—a document may not be attached, a key particular may be in error. It will reinstate the tribunal's discretion in accordance with the submissions from the Law Council, pretty much every other legal body and many other applicants.