Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I think the senator has in some ways answered his own point by pointing to the ARENA example which, ultimately, was found to be outside the scope of the law. I don't know if it went as far as being found to be illegal. So there are remedies. In particular, as you would know from your legal background, people do have the ability to challenge in a court what is, effectively, an unlawful action or unlawful decision by a government. So, in a hypothetical situation where a minister used powers that were not actually allowed to be provided by the primary legislation, that is a decision that can be challenged in court.