David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I move opposition amendment (2) on sheet 7296:

(2) Clause 11, page 14 (after line 21), after subclause (3), insert:

(3A) If a person makes an application under subsection (1), the Minister must decide whether or not to give the person a permit:

(a) if the Minister considers the application to be non-complex—within 15 days after the application is made; or

(b) otherwise—within 35 days after the application is made.

(3B) If the Minister fails to make a decision within the period required under subsection (3A), the Minister is taken to have decided to give the person a permit to do each activity covered by the application.

I will speak to that motion whilst the minister is gathering his thoughts.

This is the one where we are seeking to put a fairly rigorous scheduling regime in place for the approval process. In the event that the previous opposition amendment is unsuccessful in another place, we think that this one is very important because, whilst it is onerous—15 days for non-complex and 35 days for complex applications—we are asking the minister to not further inhibit the funding cycles, the research process, by getting on with the job on these time frames. I do not think they are anything out of the ordinary. I would be interested to hear what the government's attitude is.

Obviously (3B) is pretty strict: if the minister fails to make a decision within the period required under (3A)— 15 days for non-complex applications, 35 days for complex applications—then 'the minister is taken to have decided to give the person a permit to do each activity covered by the application'. So it is a self-triggering mechanism. If the 35 days from the date of receipt of the application expires and nothing happens, and the minister does not address the issue—say yes or no—then he is deemed to have said yes. I think that is a very suitable solution to the demise of the previous resolution—if it meets its demise.