Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment) Share this | Hansard source

This particular bill and the bill I have been talking about technically does not go through COIL, but it will be a similar mechanism. I can indicate that in relation to this bill and the court case that precipitated the bill there was a consultation with, for example, a major stakeholder here, the Maritime Union of Australia. We exchanged letters, and phone calls were had with my office, and I also believe the department. Without divulging anything, I will say that all the discussions were in absolute good faith. At one stage we did think there may have been agreement, but we fully understood that the agreement we thought we may have had did not come about, and I do not seek to blame anybody in relation to that or assert that anybody engaged without good faith. As a result, here we are now with this bill, with the government's amendments, taking into account some of the hesitation that came up a bit later in the discussions. But you can be assured, Senator Cameron—and indeed the Senate can be assured—that there was quite extensive consultation, albeit in an informal manner by way of conversations and email exchanges, and indeed formal letters.