Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I just have a couple of questions in relation to the undertakings that have been provided by the government to Labor. Just to help me out, I'm wondering how long an undertaking lasts for. Does it last until the end of the parliament? Does it last until a change of prime minister? Does it last until a Liberal government leaves office and is replaced, perhaps, by the Labor Party in government? Or is it somehow enduring? How long does that undertaking to the Labor Party last? Maybe it's a bit like conventions, where we have longstanding conventions where the courts accept the exemptions and the parliament accepts the exemptions. I'm thinking of things like cabinet-in-confidence as a convention of cabinet, which the Morrison government has just expanded quite dramatically to cover pretty much everything that COAG used to do under a veil. There's an example of, if undertakings are made or something happens by way of convention, how they can be quickly overturned just at the will of the executive. I actually wonder why Labor might accept an undertaking rather than having something embedded in law. Minister, again, how long does the undertaking that you have provided the Labor Party last for?