Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Noting that we are approaching the hard marker, I want to very briefly put on record the coalition's position on this amendment. As has been foreshadowed, we will not be supporting Senator Faruqi's amendment here today. We are very sympathetic to the substance of the NGOs' plea that Senator Faruqi alluded to in her contribution on this amendment, and we do urge the government to continue considering how humanitarian organisations like the International Committee of the Red Cross and Save the Children can be better protected under the counterterrorism provisions within division 102 and 102A of the Criminal Code. But we do accept the advice that has been provided by the Attorney-General's Department that this bill is not the appropriate place to make those changes. We are incredibly mindful that any amendments, such as this one that was proposed today by Senator Faruqi, should be drafted very carefully to ensure that there are no unintended consequences which may thwart the objects of this bill. As we said in our second reading contributions, this is an incredibly important bill. We want to see this bill pass the Senate today. In the interests of that, the coalition will not be supporting Senator Faruqi's proposed amendment, and I hope we can move things along quickly before 11.15.