I present the 12th report for 2026 of the Selection of Bills Committee. I seek leave to have the report incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The report read as follows—

Selection of Bills Committee

REPORT NO. 12 OF 2026

17 September 2026

MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE

Senator Tony Sheldon (Government Whip, Chair)

Senator Maria Kovacic (Opposition Whip)

Senator Sean Bell (One Nation Whip)

Senator Nick McKim (Australian Greens Whip)

Senator Ralph Babet

Senator Ross Cadell (The Nationals Whip)

Senator the Hon. Anthony Chisholm

Senator Jessica Collins

Senator the Hon. Katy Gallagher

Senator Jacqui Lambie

Senator Kerrynne Liddle

Senator Fatima Payman

Senator David Pocock

Senator Lidia Thorpe

Secretary: Tim Bryant 02 6277 3020

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

REPORT NO. 12 OF 2026

1. The committee met in private session on Wednesday, 16 September 2026 at 7.08 pm.

2. The committee recommends that—

(a) the Aged Care Legislation Amendment (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aged Care Commissioner and Other Measures) Bill 2026 be referred immediately to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 9 October 2026 (see appendix 1 for statements of reasons for referral),

(b) contingent upon introduction in the House of Representatives, the provisions of the Child Support and Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Ending Financial Abuse in the Child Support Scheme No. 1) Bill 2026 be referred immediately to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 12 November 2026,

(c) the provisions of the Customs and Other Legislation Amendment (Illicit Tobacco Enforcement Modernisation and Other Measures) Bill 2026 be referred immediately to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 8 October 2026, and

(d) the provisions of the Private Health Insurance (National Joint Replacement Register Levy) Amendment Bill 2026 be referred immediately to the Community Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 16 October 2026.

3. The committee recommends that the following bills not be referred to a committee:

(Tony Sheldon)

Chair 17 September 2026

I move:

That the report be adopted.

I move the following amendment:

At the end of the motion, add "and the Red Lines Package Omnibus Bill 2026 [No. 2] not be referred to a committee".

I move as amendments to the amendment just moved:

At the end of the motion, add:

"and, in respect of:

(a) the Red Lines Package Omnibus Bill 2026 [No. 2], the bill be referred immediately to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 16 November 2026; and

(b) the Wearable Recording Devices (Import Control) Bill 2026, the bill be deferred to the committee's next meeting".

We can see what's happened here on this Red Lines Package. It appears the Labor Party has cut a deal with the coalition to prevent the community from even making submissions on the Red Lines Package. The Red Lines Package has come from an extraordinary coalition of civil society groups: lawyers, human rights advocates, the Palestinian community and people of good faith and goodwill from across the country who have been appalled to think that Australian law is so weak when it comes to a genocide. They cannot believe that our government continues to allow weapons parts to go to Israel to create a genocide in Gaza. They cannot believe that we continue to allow—or Labor continues to allow—the illegal trade in products from settlements based in occupied Palestine. They cannot believe that our laws are so weak that there's basically a political veto on whether or not prohibitions against supporting a genocide are actually enforced.

I just want to give an enormous vote of thanks to all of those people from right across the country who have come together for the Red Lines Package and to the senators who co-sponsored this legislation, Senator Payman, Senator Pocock and Senator Faruqi. This Red Lines Package is an example of the community moving when this parliament refuses to, and now we're watching Labor say that they won't even permit an inquiry on it. They won't allow Australians to make submissions on four pieces of legislation that come together to actually put some decency in our laws and have our laws respect international law.

There are millions of Australians who thought that the Labor Party stood for something. Now, after five years of government, they've watched the sorts of statements that the foreign minister has kept making, saying that, when it comes to Israel and Palestine, Australia would work with like-minded nations. Like-minded nations are now putting through laws like this red lines bill in their countries, saying that they will have total prohibition on trade with illegal settlements in occupied Palestine and an arms embargo on sending weapons into a genocide. Those like-minded nations—the UK, Canada, Ireland, Spain and France—have all moved, and now we get some new line from the Labor government about why they won't move.

We know why Labor is refusing to support the Red Lines Package. It's because Washington won't let them. It's because they are completely under the spell of Donald Trump and his team over there in the United States, and they say, 'You dare not take any action to actually put in place any red lines for the state of Israel.' It's not just in relation to weapons going to Israel; it's in relation to weapons going to the United Arab Emirates, which are being fed into the appalling civil war in Sudan and the appalling conflict in Yemen. We say, 'No, put some red lines here,' but instead Labor is doing what they're doing on migration, doing what they're doing across the board—Labor is reaching out to work with the hard right, to work with the coalition and One Nation, to prevent this even going to an inquiry. That's a disgrace. The more that the community sees the Labor Party, the more they see them for what they are—so willing to reach across the aisle with the right and the hard right to punch down on migrants and to not take action on a genocide. This is just another case.

I ask that the Greens amendment be separated out into (a) and (b).

The Labor Party are cowards, and they are hypocrites. They talk no end of rules based order and upholding international law. They talk about human rights till the cows come home. When there is a community sponsored legislation here, they won't even allow it to go to an inquiry so it can be examined so that Australia's complicity in Israel's genocide on Gaza can be shown. There are more than 80,000 Palestinians who have been killed in the last three years by Israel. More than 22,000 children have been killed, and the blood is on the hands of the Labor Party. That is what they are trying to hide. No-one out there in the community is fooled. They all know that Labor is complicit in this genocide. They still export weapons and weapons parts. They have taken no action to stop the genocide. Even one of our own Australian aid workers has been killed. They have done nothing. Journalists have been killed. Healthcare workers have been killed. All are breaches of international law and all war crimes, but you don't want to do anything, and you want to hide behind not even having an inquiry. You try and put a veil on what you have done.

There was a time when the people in this country had some hope in the Labor Party. I mean, heck, there was a time where I even had some glimmers of hope in the Labor Party, but I think that time has long gone. There is no glimmer of hope in this Labor Party. They have no integrity. They have no morality. They are just hopeless, gutless cowards. That's who you are, and the community knows this. There was a time that I thought with the Greens could hopefully push Labor to be better, but you cannot be better. I have come to the conclusion that you all need to be kicked out. You need to be replaced by people who have some guts, who have some morality and who can give the people of this country some joy and some hope. That's not you or you, either.

The red lines package that was introduced by crossbenchers comes out of civil society. It comes from Australians who want our parliament to say that we are going to make a very firm commitment in domestic law to actually uphold the commitments we make to the international community. When there is a plausible case of crimes against humanity, of genocide, we will act here, and we will actually ensure that we are not party to those crimes and that we are not enabling them in any way. To me, it seems like a very sensible package of reforms. There's nothing radical in this proposal. We've signed up to all of these things as a country. We've signed international treaties.

I fear that as a species and as a civilisation, we're not learning the lessons of the past. We saw, after the great wars, the world come together and set up the United Nations and sign treaties, international agreements, that every member state would ensure that it is doing what it can to prevent genocide, to prevent crimes against humanity. And that requires us, as a participating member—as a middle power, which we hear so much about from the government—to actually step up and do that and to say we're going to hold ourselves to that standard that we signed up to, to that standard that we would probably expect of other nations.

I think it's a great tragedy that, when a bill is put forward in good faith—as I said, this should not be a radical proposition; these are all things we've signed up to as a country—the major parties won't even allow it to proceed to an inquiry; won't even allow scrutiny of that bill; won't allow Australians to submit their views, whatever they may be, to a Senate inquiry; won't allow academics and experts to submit; and won't allow for the bill to, potentially, be amended or debated in this place. On behalf of the many thousands of Canberrans I've heard from about this issue, I want to put on the record their concerns that Australia is not doing enough.

One of my heroes, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, talked about how being neutral in the face of injustice is choosing the side of the oppressor. As a country, we need to face up to the fact that we need to hold ourselves to a higher and more consistent standard. It shouldn't matter where these crimes are being perpetrated, where these wars are being waged or whether they involve allies or not. We should be stepping up. Here we are at the reference of bills, and the major parties do not want scrutiny of a bill that simply enables the parliament to uphold international obligations we've signed up to.

A common refrain from the government in this place when the Greens ask questions about the genocide that's going on in Gaza and ask questions about Australia's commitment to international law is that we are 'pathetic' and that we're just playing political stunts. Yet here we are in the chamber today, bringing the voices of the community into this place, asking the Senate to listen to the voices of the community and giving it an opportunity to engage with four bills that have come to this place from the community through the inquiry process—Professor Gillian Triggs and former High Court Justice Michael Kirby are the sorts of people who have been involved in this community project to ensure that our government and our parliament uphold their obligations under international law.

We hear regularly from the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Prime Minister and the government that Australia is committed to its obligations under international law. Yet, when the community puts legislation in front of them to ensure that we can follow through on those obligations, the response from the government and the coalition is: 'We don't want to hear you. There's nothing to see here.' What are you so afraid of? If you were that confident that we were, in fact, as a country, upholding our obligations under international law, there would be nothing to fear. You'd be very happy to have the community making submissions. You'd be very happy to hear evidence from people like Professor Triggs and former Justice Kirby. Yet it's clear that you are very worried and afraid of what they're going to say, or, alternatively, that you're just cowards.

What it tells us is that you are so out of touch with the community. So don't come in here and lecture us anymore about being 'pathetic' or just running political stunts when what we do in this place is bring the voice of the community here.

The opposition have asked that (a) and (b) of the Greens amendment to Minister Gallagher's amendment to the Selection of Bills Committee report be split. The question is that part (a) of Senator McKim's amendment agreed to.

The question now is that part (b) of Senator McKim's amendment be agreed to.

Question agreed to.

The question now is that the amendment moved by Minister Gallagher, as amended, to the motion that the Selection of Bills Committee report be adopted be agreed to.

Question agreed to.

Original question, as amended, agreed to.