Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Georgiou, thank you for your contribution in this debate. I think there is much merit to what you have said. In fact, your resolution wouldn't have been far away from getting support from the opposition. Given it was a motion that wasn't about wedging anyone politically—it was about trying to address a very genuine need, which I accept is there—I would encourage you to talk to us about these matters. We may have been able to get to a position of support for such a resolution, but, as it stands, we can't quite get there. We do support the bulk of it. I certainly support your comments and the concerns that you've raised.

I do want to take a little bit of issue, before I get back to some of the substance of it, with some of what Senator Colbeck said. I do this respectfully. Senator Colbeck indicated that there are regulations and standards out there that have to be complied with and that it's those people that are responsible for complying with the regulation who should have the responsibility to do so. That's absolutely self-evident, but what is also self-evident is that people that are responsible for ensuring compliance, under regulations and the code, are not doing so. This is the problem that Senator Carr indicated very clearly earlier is because—