Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

With reference to the Hansard of the Tasmanian government when Senator McKim was part of that government, it will be interesting to see how many legal advices were tabled in the Tasmanian parliament when the Greens had control of that. I answer Senator McKim by saying: we do have a bill of rights in Australia at the present time. It is called the common law and the courts of the land, which protect the human rights and other rights that we as Australians enjoy, perhaps more so than any other nation in the world.

The Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation committee, which I chair and of which Senator Collins is the deputy chair and Senator McKim is a member, inquired into this bill, receiving 12 submissions. The committee has issued a report, which until today I thought was a unanimous report, recommending that the bill be passed. I note that, unusually, the Greens have a set of amendments. Those were not raised in the committee's report to the Senate.

The Crimes Legislation Amendment (Proceeds of Crime and Other Measures) Bill 2015 does a number of things. Principally it amends provisions relating to serious drug offences in the Criminal Code to ensure that they capture all relevant substances and processes. With the Greens recently suggesting, as I read in media reports, that ice was okay and should be decriminalised—I may be verballing the Greens on that—