Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

There has been a failure in the past and I know Senator Mason acknowledges that. But through the Bradley review and through the consultation and getting COAG agreement, this government has worked very hard to get us into a position where we are going to have a top-quality regulator, a national regulator, to ensure, hopefully, that we do not have the same sorts of problems that we have seen in other parts of the education sector. It is too important to this country; it is too valuable. We need to maintain the highest quality standards and we cannot afford to have our reputation trashed.

I am a little bit surprised and disappointed that the opposition is not supporting the government’s legislation. I have a lot of respect for Senator Nash but, as I said earlier, her contribution sounded to me as though she was scrambling around to find reasons to justify the opposition not supporting these bills more than having any genuine policy reasons. That is very disappointing given that, even though Western Australia and Victoria are not referring their powers, they are going to introduce mirror legislation so that at least we have the same standards.

The government want to get on with it. These bills are important to us. Sure, there could have been improvements in some elements of the legislation. In fact, the government senators’ report indicates a number of those areas. Overwhelmingly, on balance, the position to support the bills outweighs a thousand times any of the problems that could have been fixed. There is a serious technical problem about amending a bill when we already have the referral legislation from New South Wales. It would in fact make the whole process unworkable and send us right back to the drawing board. That is not necessary.

Government senators also recommend in the report that we have another look, after all the referrals have been taken, to see whether there are areas where it would be desirable to tidy up things or clearly, after the legislation has been operating for some time, to have another look at it and, if necessary, to revisit the legislation down the track. I am sure the government will accept those recommendations. The government senators’ report is very clear. We outline all the arguments for and against and mount a strong and compelling argument about why these bills should be supported in their current form. I am sorry I beat Senator Hanson-Young to the jump. I know she was before me on the speakers list but she was a couple of seconds late getting to her seat. I look forward to her contribution.