Chris Pearce (Aston, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate the view of the shadow spokesperson, the member for Prospect, on this amendment, but the government does not support the first recommendation of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services. We do not support it because we think that it is unworkable and unduly narrow. The Takeovers Panel was established to take takeover cases away from the courts in most instances. It needs a broad power, we believe, for experts to decide the commercial issues based on broad principles and what they consider to be unacceptable. The aim of this bill is really to give the panel a wide power so that it can act and make these commercial decisions, which give effect to the spirit and the purpose of the act. The PJC itself actually acknowledged that the panel needs this broad jurisdictional reach, and I would put to the opposition that adopting this recommendation actually takes away from that; it actually unduly narrows the panel’s scope. That really is the primary reason why the government will not accept this amendment.

Question put:

That the amendment (Mr Bowen’s) be agreed to.

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