Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Murray Darling Basin) Share this | Hansard source

Equally in the interests of time, I indicate that I addressed the primary substance of these amendments in my comments with regard to Senator Ludlam's amendment. These are comple­mentary to a number of the other things that we have done and particularly to the establishment of the advisory group. These amendments will provide for the publication of those materials that are being considered for accreditation or regulation under the act and in doing so will basically give industry and groups 12 months of forewarning that an issue is on the books and under considera­tion. The likelihood is the processes will end up taking much longer than that to get from beginning to end, but at least there is in a sense a minimum time frame in here, aside from special circumstances, that ensures there is some certainty and awareness. The coalition will be supporting the amendments.