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

I thank the Senate for the opportunity to speak on the government response to the report of the Rural Affairs and Transport References Committee. The spread of the Asian honey bee has been worrying me for some time. I come from North Queensland and I look after northern and remote Australia issues for the coalition. This is simply another case of the government's out of sight, out of mind approach. We have a minister who is completely out of his depth when it comes to anything to do with agriculture, fisheries and forestry. This is the first government for a long time that has had only one minister covering this portfolio. Whether the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is interested or not, I am sure he does not have time to give to this particular issue, as with many issues in this portfolio, the attention that it demands. Agriculture, fisheries and forestry issues sit in the rural and regional parts of Australia, the more remote parts of Australia, including Northern Australia. There are no votes there and the minister has clearly shown on a number of occasions he has made decisions that he has no interest in—as I say, it is the out of sight, out of mind approach.

I congratulate Senator Colbeck on the great work he has done and on the issues he has raised, and I acknowledge that other senators have been very concerned about this matter as well. This response by the government deserves much fuller debate but again I despair—because of a motion supported by the Greens and the Australian Labor Party this morning we are not going to have an opportunity, apart from today, to discuss government responses to committee reports or to discuss the literally hundreds and hundreds of government documents that have been tabled in this parliament for scrutiny. Because of this guillotine decision earlier today, for the rest of this parliamentary year—for the rest of this calendar year—there will be absolutely no opportunity for senators to hold the government accountable for all these government documents and government reports that are brought into this parliament every week.

We hear about the new paradigm of open accountability, but where has it gone? The Senate's ability to look at government documents and committee reports at the appropriate times on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons is an essential part of a parliament keeping a government accountable. I think this is about the fourth or fifth week running that the government has done away with that opportunity for senators to look at these matters. This government response deserves much greater attention but it is not going to get it. By the time the Senate gets back to this report, the Asian honey bee could be anywhere. As Senator Colbeck points out, this is an issue which should be subject to intense scrutiny. Senator Milne is talking about a freedom of information request because she is unhappy with the response of the government. Senator Colbeck raises some issues about the conduct of this inquiry which really bring the honesty of this government to account. We know this government is led by a Prime Minister who told a deliberate lie before the last election, but you would think there would be a certain basic governmental honesty in relation to all of these documents.