Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think the minister is aware of my concerns. If I could, at the outset, firstly thank the minister for the way in which he engaged with the scrutiny process and secondly thank members of his department who made themselves available in order to give briefings to the scrutiny committee. That was greatly appreciated.

Minister, do you recognise that, for example, one of the scrutiny principles which the scrutiny committees apply is whether or not an instrument is actually made in accordance with the provisions of an act? If an instrument is issued outside the parameters of the act, that in itself is something which can be picked up through the application of the scrutiny principles by the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation Committee. There's an important aspect in terms of the application of the scrutiny principles by this place. There's also scrutiny which applies with respect to whether or not an instrument is constitutional, which again goes to the heart of the instrument and whether or not it should remain in power. Lastly, with respect to your point about the need for the department to move quickly and for you as minister to move quickly in order to discharge your duty, we recognise that, and I compliment you on the seriousness with which you take your duties. I've no question about that or with the advice of the department. But the scrutiny process doesn't prevent the taking of urgent action, and in fact, in most cases where scrutiny issues are raised, there is an iterative process with the department and with the minister to address those scrutiny principles through that iterative process. Even if an instrument is disallowed, it doesn't go back in time to the point when the instrument was issued. It just looks forward in time, in the very unlikely event that an instrument is disallowed. I'd be interested in your considering those points.