Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The COAG Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 seeks to amend several Commonwealth acts to update references to the Council of Australian Governments, COAG, and ministerial councils to reflect the cessation of COAG in 2020. The Morrison government's creation of the National Cabinet and the National Federation Reform Council to replace COAG in 2020 marked a core part of the nation's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Morrison government's establishment of the National Cabinet will go down in history as an important and successful vehicle to tackle future threats facing the Australian people.

The COAG Legislation Amendment Bill 2023 extracts schedules 1 and 2 of the coalition's COAG Legislation Amendment Bill 2021 but includes additional updates that aim to make the legislation fit for purpose by updating other bills that have been passed since the introduction of the coalition's bill. In 2023, this bill was referred to the Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee for inquiry to ensure that this bill had no unintended consequences and that no items of legislation had been missed. On 14 March 2024, the Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee published the report of their inquiry into the COAG Legislation Amendment Bill 2023, recommending that this bill be passed. As such, the coalition will provide passage for this bill to update legislation to reflect the cessation of the Council of Australian Governments and the continuation of the National Cabinet.

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the Senate and the Senate finance and public administration committees, which have been involved in the development and consideration of the COAG Legislation Amendment Bill since the Conran review in 2020. I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.