Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move opposition amendments (26), (62) and (68) on sheet 5139:

(26)  Clause 25, page 21 (after line 6), after subclause (1), insert:

     (1A)    Before appointing a person to be the Inspector of Transport Security, the Minister must consult with the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives.

(62) Page 55 (after line 27), after clause 64, insert:

64A Final report must be given to Leader of Opposition

80A Leader of Opposition to be kept informed

These amendments deal with what we suggest should be matters of right pertaining to information provided to the Leader of the Opposition. For example, amendment (26) seeks to insert a new subclause which pertains to a process to be undertaken prior to the appointment of the Inspector of Transport Security requiring the minister to consult with the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives.

Amendment (62) relates to the provision by the minister of a copy of each final report of the Inspector of Transport Security to the Leader of the Opposition, specifying that it is the duty of the Leader of the Opposition not to disclose:

... any part of the report or information in a report that is not tabled in Parliament or that is not disclosed in a statement tabled in Parliament in accordance with paragraph 64(1)(c).

Amendment (68) would insert a new clause 80A. It specifies that the Inspector of Transport Security—not the minister—would:

... consult regularly with the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives for the purpose of keeping him or her informed on transport security matters and offshore security matters considered by the Inspector.

It is important that the holder of this important position maintain the confidence of the opposition as well as the government in relation to the performance of the inspector’s functions and in relation to the office. It would certainly be important that the sort of communication that the new clause 80A would require would be kept between the inspector and the Leader of the Opposition to ensure that there was confidence that the task was being performed as the parliament would expect. One would have thought that any holder of the office would be very keen to ensure that he or she retained the confidence of the parliament, not simply the executive government, in the performance of their task. We think that that is a very important and useful provision—useful, in fact, for the holder of the office in conducting their function on an ongoing basis.

We have already touched on the proposed new clause 64A, but the opposition believes it is critically important that the full final report by the Inspector of Transport Security be provided to the Leader of the Opposition, and we are very happy to specify that that be subject to the Leader of the Opposition having a duty to maintain in confidence any part of the report that is not tabled in parliament or not disclosed in the statement tabled in accordance with paragraph 64(1)(c). The government says that it follows a practice of keeping the opposition briefed about security matters. So what better practice than to keep the Leader of the Opposition in the loop about the Inspector of Transport Security’s reports and statements made to the parliament arising from the reports, in a way that is not censored by the executive government but is the subject of the embargo on publication or release by the Leader of the Opposition of any information that is not tabled in the parliament?

In amendment (26), the proposed new subclause 25(1A) requires the minister to consult with the Leader of the Opposition prior to appointing a person to be the Inspector of Transport Security. Again, this is a provision which is squarely aimed at ensuring that there is maintained confidence of the parliament in the position and confidence in the process of appointment so that this position is not seen as a partisan position and one which is subject to the discrediting that occurs when any party in this system seeks to appoint people to positions, firstly, without consultation and, secondly, without regard for the proper qualifications and standing of the person being appointed to the position.

We believe that these amendments, taken together, form a consistent approach to the appointment, performance and processes of the Inspector of Transport Security—making sure that the opposition can maintain confidence in the position. We think it is in the interests of the overall effectiveness of the position for that confidence to be maintained. We think the government should seriously consider accepting the amendments, as they would do absolutely no harm to the legislation and would, in fact, enhance it.