Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

Thanks, Mr Deputy Speaker—on indulgence perhaps—I note that the Treasurer has outlined the changes he seeks to make to a bill that was carried by the parliament on its last sitting day, last Thursday, and we will have a full debate about those issues when the bill is considered. But I am raising on a point of order about whether indeed it is in order for the parliament to consider legislation that seeks to bind not just this parliament but the next parliament as well with a so-called 'freeze' of five years, and indeed whether it is competent for this parliament to consider this legislation.

Governments come and go; budgets come and go each year. The suggestion that a government can be bound and that it cannot be undone by future legislation that would override this legislation seems to me to be self-evidently wrong in law. Therefore, this parliament should not debate legislation that is not in accordance with the competence of this parliament to consider it—that is, this attempt to bind future governments as per this legislation. I wonder about the status of the legal advice on this bill.

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