Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Labor won't be supporting the amendment, for a couple of reasons. We don't think a joint select committee is the best vehicle. We think the expertise for scrutiny lies in the Senate. When you look at the work that's been done, the information that's been gleaned and the reports that have been written over time, they've been written by Senate committees. So we don't accept that. We also understand how the numbers work. The government has the numbers in the House, and it's not going to support the establishment of a joint select committee. So it wouldn't get up. That's my point: the only vehicle available to senators today to put in place proper, independent scrutiny is this Senate select committee. That is the only option available. A joint select committee will not get up. Aside from that, we don't think it is the best vehicle. We think the expertise is found in this chamber, with the processes available to the Senate.

In terms of the expertise senators bring, I think we bring varied experiences. I deal with constituent matters all the time, and I imagine many of us in this place do. So we don't just come at this from a state point of view. People in the House and other senators who are not on this committee—and any senator can be a participating member—will be working very hard. My experience is that all of us have been extremely busy since this outbreak occurred, because we have been dealing with a very distressed community that is knocking on all of our doors. We have a role to play as civic leaders in providing the community with the support they need, albeit probably in a different way to what we would normally have done in the past. My expectation is that members of parliament are going to be extremely busy. The motion that I have moved is the only way that we will get scrutiny arrangements put in place, and the Senate should support that motion.