Chris Ellison (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

They were not mistakes. I made remarks earlier in the opening of the committee stage which outlined that over the summer recess the government had received various comments on the legislation. It proposed a number of amendments which I think went to clarifying the operation of the legislation. There are numerous amendments which are technical in nature. There are also other amendments which have been introduced after further consideration and consultation with the Ministerial Council for Corporations.

It is not abnormal, over a period of time, between the introduction of a bill and the time it gets here, for government amendments to be brought forward. In fact, when we do not, we get criticised for not being responsive; when we do, it is a mistake. Technical aspects have been identified. There is nothing wrong with that. We have to get it right. I have identified those technical aspects. Where they have been more substantial in nature I have outlined the policy consideration behind that. In the supplementary explanatory memorandum, on page 1, there is a description of the groups of amendments. I would draw Senator Allison’s attention to that. That may assist her in sorting out which amendments she may wish to address during the committee stage.

As I said earlier, we are not putting forward government amendments (1) to (104) in a lump sum fashion to the extent that you cannot pick out those you want to debate. I indicated that senators may well want votes to be taken separately on various amendments and we have the committee stage to go through that. It is an orderly process that has ensued since we introduced these bills, and this is a reflection of that process.