Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Medicare) Share this | Hansard source

Yet again, I point out that this is the government amending its own bill. Having to amend one of your own bills once in one day is unfortunate; having to do it twice in one day again shows the disarray that this government is in. Again, this government is having to introduce amendments to its own legislation in this place. The last time that this House sat, we saw how divided and in disarray this government was, including the plotting of the minister across the table in relation to the removal of a Prime Minister. Again, had he been focused on his day job, I suspect we wouldn't be facing what we are today.

This amendment pushes back this bill by at least five months, from July to December or later. Under the bill, pathology collection centres will pay a fee of $2,000 every two years, instead of $1,000 every year. The government says, as it did in its original legislation, that this will reduce the regulatory burden on pathology companies while maintaining the revenue raised from these fees. It's worth remembering where this legislation stemmed from in the first place: the 2017 budget, which was delivered some 16 months ago. Between the 2017 budget and the scheduled implementation of this bill in 2018, the government had 14 months in which to pass this bill. But the minister was apparently more focused on other things, because he didn't introduce this fairly straightforward measure until May this year, a year after the 2017 budget. The House passed this bill back in June, but the government didn't bother passing it in the Senate until last night, missing the July start date. We understand that's why this amendment is here. We will support the amendment, but I think it's worth the House noting that, once again, this is the government having to come in here and clean up and move an amendment of its own making to amend its own legislation, because it has not been able to focus on its day job.

Question agreed to.

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