James Paterson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Cyber Security) Share this | Hansard source

Self-evidently, I think it will change if it is no longer a bipartisan committee and just becomes like any other committee of the parliament. I think there is a reason why many independent experts and commentators recognise that this committee is uniquely functional among other committees of the parliament. It's not an accident that the committee most often and most widely praised for its bipartisanship has a culture of bipartisanship which is driven by the membership of the committee, which is bipartisan. Otherwise, it can just be like every other committee and function just like every other committee, but I think that would be a loss for our nation. Minister, in formulating this proposal, who did the government consult?