Senate debates

Thursday, 1 December 2016

Committees

Selection of Bills Committee; Report

11:56 am

Photo of Rachel SiewertRachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Telecommunications and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2016, which is contained in the Selection of Bills Committee report, which I sought to refer last night and about which we could not agree at the Selection of Bills Committee meeting, gives the Attorney-General an extreme power and therefore should be investigated by the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee—a committee that has its inquiries on the public record—and not by the secretive Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, which I am given to understand the bill has been referred to. That does not allow open scrutiny of these measures and does not include a Greens senator or member of the other place. Therefore, those of us who take a very deep interest in these issues, and who may have an alternative view to the other parties, do not get an opportunity to be involved in the investigation. I put on record we are extremely disappointed that we were not able to have an inquiry through the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

Question agreed to.

Comments

No comments