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

I'm not referring to individuals. An issue was identified by agencies, including the AFP, Services Australia, the Department of Social Services and AGD, and there was Education, though I'm not sure when Education came into it. We sought advice and we had to make some decisions about that. And that does take time.

This issue didn't come to us on our request. We didn't dream something up and say, 'Oh, great; we're going to draft another schedule to that bill and get it in there, and try and avoid anything.' That's the proposition you're putting. That is simply incorrect—absolutely incorrect—because I was involved in many of those discussions. This is not something we sought out.

In government, you do occasionally have problems that land in your lap that you've got to respond to and deal with, and they do take time, and, when they cover a number of agencies, you go through the standard process. And that's what we've done.

It aligned, as it turns out. It was under consideration, at least, from my point of view, throughout September, but there wasn't agreement on how to deal with it until we were able to finalise that and take all the necessary advice from our agencies.