Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I covered this before you were here, Senator Shoebridge. There are a couple of things in response to that. First, in order for this particular power to apply, not only do you have to be charged with a serious violent or sexual offence—and I've gone through that a couple of times—but there needs to be an outstanding warrant, and you need to be a threat to public safety. If we take that point for a moment, in my working in this space, in women's safety, for a long time, in the situation that you outlined, very rarely would an individual be considered a threat to public safety.

Even if you don't accept that, the second level is that advice has to be sought by Services Australia. I work with Services Australia every day. Whenever I'm not in here and I'm out and about, I visit Services Australia. I was in Services Australia Bunbury the other day. I meet with the teams that deal with families living with violence or escaping violence. The idea that Services Australia in the situation that you cite would not be aware of that and that that would not feed into the advice provided to the minister is not believable. It would. Services Australia have a history of engagement with their customers, and that information would of course be relevant to any decision-maker, including the decision-maker in this regard, about whether or not a benefit restriction notice would be applicable. Any dependents that that individual may have would need to be taken into consideration as well. The idea that the situation you describe here would occur and that that information would not be available to the minister prior to them making a decision would not be correct.