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

To speed matters up, I'll treat this contribution as the Greens' contribution to the opposition's amendment on sheet 3164. It is an amendment to effectively reinstate the status quo under section 64 of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal Act, which required the AAT to have a registry in each state as well as one in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. I think that's the amendment Senator Scarr is speaking to, at least obliquely, in this contribution—the absence of that provision in the ART bill.

I want to thank my colleague Senator McKim for raising this issue. He has been an ongoing champion of ensuring that Tasmania is not forgotten and that it's guaranteed there will be a registry in Tasmania. I'll leave it up to Senator McKim and Senator Whish-Wilson to argue about whether it should be in Launceston or Hobart. Perhaps they'll agree on Campbell Town. Senator Whish-Wilson? I don't know, but we Greens strongly—