Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

Without going to specific amendments, I want to speak in generalities to start with. At the outset, I want to restate Labor's strong and absolute support for health and medical research in our country and for the establishment of a Medical Research Future Fund. But there are a number of issues in the bills that I outlined in my contribution on the second reading, when I outlined the concerns that Labor has had with these bills. I indicated in my speech on the second reading that Labor will be moving amendments. Those amendments were circulated a long time ago. At the first opportunity we had to circulate those amendments, we did, because Labor is interested in transparency. During Senator Di Natale's speech, he said that the Greens will vote for good ideas. I invite the Greens to have a look at the substance of our amendments and I invite them to be good to their word.

In my speech on the second reading, I used the word 'messy' and said that this had been a messy process, that the gestation of these bills had been long and that the birth was going to be short and sharp. Well, it just got messier. We turn up today and we have another supplementary explanatory memorandum—tabled today

We have 21 more amendments that were tabled at 9.30 this morning. They are complex amendments. We will go through the substance of those amendments.

I talked about chaos and dysfunction in my second reading speech. Well, it has a 'C' and a 'D' as of this morning. As we know, the first bill had 20 amendments in the House of Representatives. They were passed in that place and we then got the bill and the consequential amendments bill. We had an inquiry just last Thursday. Who is running the show here? Just last Thursday we had an inquiry and then we had the bill appearing on the Notice Paper on Monday morning. The report of that inquiry said:

The committee recommends the bills be passed.

It did not recommend that we need 21 more amendments, that we need another explanatory memorandum. It said that the bill be passed. This committee report here is the vehicle by which a government will review and rethink their policy position. They did not use it. Who is running this show?

Government members in their second reading contributions talked about urgency. They warned that delay in the Senate would affect the potential for medical research somewhere down the track. Well, can I say that the only delay that is happening with these bills is happening because of the government. We are very happy to deal with this legislation—we have been happy for quite some time. We are very happy to actually negotiate with the government. But they have done a little deal with the Greens. The alternative government have ideas and opportunities to contribute to improve these bills, but, from the minister's comments, it would seem now that they are not going to be considered. They have the numbers from the Greens, that will do—'We are not going to think about the way we can improve this bill.'

Senator Sinodinos is a person for whom I have a lot of regard. He said that this was a historic bill, that this was monumental, that this would become the largest medical research fund in the world. If we are doing something that is so important, if we are doing something that is going to be so significant, why couldn't they get the drafting organised and not bring in amendments at 9.30 this morning on something that is their signature policy?