Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I mirror the comment made by Senator Cormann that it is unfortunate that the opposition’s amendments were not agreed to. That being the case, though, I think that the proposal by Senator Xenophon is well worthy of merit. I heard what the minister said about his concern for the committee, but I am sure the committee will be able to handle this. As Senator Cormann said, it is important that we do get the widest range of advice so that we can work out the best way to implement this proposal. We think we had the best way, but, as we were not able to achieve the consent of the majority of senators, perhaps the next best way to go is to have those investigations done through a Senate inquiry that would report back at the date indicated by Senator Xenophon.