Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

On that basis, I will speak to only part (a). I move:

Paragraph (a), omit "not be referred to a committee", substitute "be referred immediately to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 27 March 2026".

The coalition is seeking to refer the Commonwealth Entities Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee to ensure the proposed governance changes are properly scrutinised and fully understood.

While the bill is presented as a measure to modernise accountability frameworks for statutory office holders, several elements of these reforms, particularly the introduction of minister-set performance standards, appear to be novel and warrant closer examination. A committee inquiry would allow the parliament to test whether these changes are appropriate and consistent with governance arrangements that apply to other Commonwealth statutory office holders. A Senate inquiry will provide an opportunity to clarify whether specific operational and management issues prompted these reforms and whether the government intends to extend similar measures to other statutory bodies into the future.

The proposed reforms allow ministers to set written performance standards that may form the basis for termination. This raises important governance questions, particularly as these standards are not legislative instruments and may not be subject to parliamentary oversight. An inquiry would enable stakeholders and affected agencies to provide evidence on how these performance standards would operate in practice, including whether there are adequate safeguards such as consultation, transparency and rights of reply. The bill also introduces new suspension powers and expanded termination grounds, and the committee process would help determine whether appropriate procedural protections exist for statutory office holders subject to these powers.

Finally, a Senate inquiry would allow affected agencies to provide submissions and evidence to ensure the parliament has a full understanding of the policy, rationale and implications of this bill.