Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the fourth report of 2026 of the Selection of Bills Committee and I seek leave to have the report incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The report read as follows—

Selection of Bills Committee

REPORT NO. 4 OF 2026

26 March 2026

MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE

Senator Tony Sheldon (Government Whip, Chair)

Senator Wendy Askew (Opposition Whip)

Senator Sean Bell (One Nation Whip)

Senator Nick McKim (Australian Greens Whip)

Senator Ralph Babet

Senator Leah Blyth

Senator Cadell (Nationals Whip)

Senator the Hon. Anthony Chisholm

Senator Jessica Collins

Senator the Hon. Katy Gallagher

Senator Jacqui Lambie

Senator Fatima Payman

Senator David Pocock

Senator Lidia Thorpe

Secretary: Tim Bryant 02 6277 3020

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

REPORT NO. 4 OF 2026

1. The committee met in private session on Wednesday, 25 March 2026 at 7.10 pm.

2. The committee recommends that the Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Bill 2026 be referred immediately to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 1 May 2026 (see appendix 1 for statement of reasons for referral).

3. The committee recommends that the Export Control Amendment (Clarifying Obligations Relating to Registered Establishments) Bill 2026 not be referred to a committee.

4. The committee deferred consideration of the following bills to its next meeting:

5. The committee considered the following bills but was unable to reach agreement:

(Tony Sheldon)

Chair 25 March 2026

Appendix 1

SELECTION OF BILLS COMMITTEE

Proposal to refer a bill to a committee

Name of bill:

Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Bill 2026 (Originated in the House of Representatives on Wednesday 11 March 2026)

Reasons for referral/principal issues for consideration:

To scrutinise this legislation and to hear from stakeholders.

Possible submissions or evidence from:

Interested parties and stakeholders

Committee to which bill is to be referred:

Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee

Possible hearing date(s): March—April 2026

Possible reporting date: 1 MAY 2026

(signed)

Wendy Askew 15

I move:

That the report be adopted.

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

I move:

At the end of the motion, add ", and the following bills not be referred to committees:

(a) Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2026;

(b) Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission Bill 2026

Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (National Policing Information Charges) Bill 2026; and

(c) Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Approval of Overseas Service) Bill 2020".

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

At the end of the motion, add:

", and the Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Bill 2026 not be referred to a committee.

David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator McKim, I move:

At the end of the motion, add:

"and, in respect of:

(a) the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Amendment Bill 2026, the provisions of the bill be referred immediately to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 8 May 2026;

(b) the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission Bill 2026 and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (National Policing Information Charges) Bill 2026, the provisions of the bills be referred immediately to the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 11 August 2026;

(c) the Defence Amendment (Parliamentary Approval of Overseas Service) Bill 2020, the bill be referred immediately to the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 29 June 2026; and

(d) the Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Bill 2026, the provisions of the bill be referred immediately to the Economics Legislation Committee for inquiry and report by 31 March 2026".

Isn't this extraordinary? We are now four weeks into your war of choice—the Labor, One Nation and Liberal war of choice—in the Middle East, the war of choice that is being felt across the Middle East with thousands of deaths and wide-scale destruction. It is being felt across the world with economic chaos, and it's being felt in homes across this country. Australians across this country right now are paying the price for Labor, the coalition and One Nation—the war parties—championing this war of choice by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu, and you don't even have the guts to have a hearing into a war powers bill that would give the parliament and the Australian public a say before you go into your next disastrous US forever war.

Let's be clear about what's behind this. Australians across the country are worried about whether they're going to be able to fill up their petrol tanks. They're worried about the cost of it. They are desperately concerned about what it means for their jobs. They are worried about whether, over Easter, they will be able to go down and visit family and friends, because they may not be able to fill up their petrol tanks to get back. They are worried about the world spiralling into chaos. They're deeply concerned about the deaths they're seeing in the Middle East. And do you know whose interests the Albanese Labor government took into account? No doubt there was a phone call between the Prime Minister and Donald Trump.

I wonder if they mentioned Donald Trump's thousands and thousands of mentions in the Epstein files in that phone call. Whose national interest is being advanced here? It is not the interests of the Australian people. The Albanese government is betraying the Australian people because they're siding with Donald Trump, a mate of Jeffrey Epstein. They're siding with Benjamin Netanyahu, who's running a war to get re-elected. They're putting the interests of those two vile men ahead of the interests of Australians.

They're throwing our economy into chaos. They're throwing people out of work. They're doing this all because the Labor Party, One Nation and the coalition put the interests of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the interests of the Australian people, who elected them to this place not to serve the interests of the one per cent, not to serve the interests of Donald Trump and not to serve the interests of Bejamin Netanyahu. You're meant to be serving the interests of the Australian people. Is it any wonder you don't want them to have a say on whether we go to war, because you're going to war for the one per cent. You're going to war for the fossil fuel companies, who are making record profits. You're going to war for Donald Trump and the Epstein class. You're going to war for Benjamin Netanyahu so he can get re-elected in Israel. And you do not give a rat's about the interests of the Australian people. It is an obscene betrayal that we are seeing.

When people across the country are wondering if they're going to be able to afford to fill up their car, wondering if their job is going to be secure, wondering why this is happening to them, the answer is: because Labor has a phone call with Donald Trump, where Prime Minister Albanese gets on the phone with Donald Trump and says, 'How can we help? How can we support you?' because Donald Trump is of more interest—keeping him happy, making sure he doesn't get angry and maybe cancels AUKUS or maybe says mean things about us. That's who you put ahead of the Australian people.

So is it any wonder you—the three war parties—are joining up now to prevent this bill, which, if it got through, would make sure the parliament had to have a say before you joined the next Trump war? Is it any wonder we're seeing the three war parties join up to vote against it? I see you at different times wrapping yourself in the Australian flag and pretending you care about Australia. Why don't you just wrap yourselves in the US flag, wrap yourselves in whatever present Benjamin Netanyahu gives you or wrap yourselves up in whatever the one per cent are giving you to betray the country like this?

It is an obscene betrayal of ordinary Australians because you are frightened of Donald Trump—or maybe actually it's worse than that: you identify with him; you identify with the one per cent who he supports; you identify with the fossil fuel companies that are making record profits. It is appalling how you betray this country. (Time expired)

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

How extraordinary is it that, a matter of weeks after Labor joined Australia into the war on Iran, at the behest of the war criminals Trump and Netanyahu—the illegal war against Iran that Australia is now fighting, on the side of the war criminals and the perpetrators—all the war parties in this place, the Labor Party, the Liberal Party, the Nationals and One Nation, are colluding to prevent a bill from just going to an inquiry? It's a bill that would actually require this parliament to decide, the next time Labor wants to lead us into another disastrous US led forever war. You don't want the bill that would allow this parliament, the democratically elected representatives of the Australian people, to have the say about whether or not this country should go to war.

This is a war that has resulted in thousands of people dying—women, children, men and everyone in between—tens of thousands being injured and many, many, many hundreds of thousands, well north of a million, being displaced from their homes in places like the south of Lebanon. This is a war that Labor, in the most cavalier way, signed this country up to, because Donald Trump—under pressure from the Zionists and from the war criminal Netanyahu, and in an attempt to distract from his complicity in the paedophilia of Jeffrey Epstein—launched this war, illegally, against the people of Iran. What an absolute disgrace! And how far the Labor Party has fallen from where it stood, just a matter of a couple of decades ago, on the Iraq war.

I also want to talk about the referral that the Greens are attempting to deliver through this amendment of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Bill. I want to start by reflecting on the economic impacts of this war. Make no mistake, senators: there are no circumstances, even with a massively unlikely immediate ceasefire, where the economic impacts of this war will not continue for some time. And that is the best-case scenario. The worst-case scenario is a global economic black-swan event that will change the nature of international geopolitics and the global economy forever. That is how serious the situation is. And it is time for Labor to come to grips with the impacts of this war, which they were one of the first governments in the world out of the blocks to say they thought was a terrific idea. This is Labor's war, and the impacts of this war on everyday Australians are the impacts Labor has delivered. One of those impacts is petrol prices and petrol availability. It is the absolute barbecue stopper of an issue that is discussed everywhere you go in this country at the moment, whether you're picking the kids up from school, leaning on your back fence talking to a neighbour, down at the pub, in a place of worship or in the supermarket. Everyone is talking about it. And what's Labor doing to stop petrol companies price gouging? Nothing, because their bill, which they say will stop petrol companies price gouging, actually will not do that. It won't do that. Labor knows it won't do that, and Labor knows there are no anti-price-gouging provisions in competition and consumer law in Australia, because last year they moved to create anti-price-gouging provisions only for the supermarket sector and only after the Greens had campaigned for 18 months to get them to do that. Labor is misleading the Australian people, and, instead of being honest, they are being deceptive and they don't want to be caught out.

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the comments made by my colleagues Senator Shoebridge and Senator McKim. The question has to be asked: what are the government and the coalition afraid of in letting the public have a bill, to give them a say about whether or not this country goes to war, be interrogated? Are you afraid that experts are going to come and say that the parliament should actually debate this? If you were so confident in your position, then you'd be happy for this to go to an inquiry. So the question for the Australian public is: what are the government and the opposition wanting to keep secret about the decisions that they are making, to put Australian troops in harm's way, to make the Australian public less safe, to tie us to a government that is led by a fascist maniac? You cannot take any of the statements that the President of the United States, Trump, has made since this illegal war started and have any level of confidence that we should have been dragged into this unlawful and illegal war. Every time I hear that man speak, I am horrified. Every time other Australians hear him speak, they are horrified. This is the government and the military that you have tied us to. At least have the courage to be upfront and allow an open debate about whether this parliament should have a say in whether our country is dragged into war. At least have the courage to send this bill to an inquiry so that people can see, very clearly and plainly, the evidence as to whether this should happen or not.

I also want to support Senator McKim's comments about the smoke and mirrors around the government claiming that they are protecting people from price gouging on fuel. This is a government full of smoke and mirrors. Yesterday we had the ministerial statement on better and fairer schools. This government loves to claim that they'll fully fund our public schools, but everybody knows that's not going to happen, even by 2034, but they're still out there saying it. And now they're out there telling people that they're going to protect them from price gouging when they're actually not. If you're not going to do something then be honest with the public about what you are doing. People have a right to know what is actually happening. Over the top of this we're being drowned by mis- and disinformation, and the approach that you take only makes that worse.

This war started with the bombing of a school by the United States. More than 150 young schoolgirls died. And last night in the chamber, both the government and the opposition stood up in response to the better and fairer schools ministerial statement and said how much they value our young people. Well every war—every war—is a war on children. If the major parties in this place care so much about young people, if they really care, then they would be doing everything in their power to make the bombs stop. You would not cheer them on from the get-go. You would be using every diplomatic lever. You would stop sending arms to Israel, which you continue to do. Every war is a war on children, and the major parties and One Nation in this place are continuing to perpetuate that war rather than doing every single thing in their power to bring peace and make the bombs stop.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the amendment standing in the name of Senator McKim and moved by Senator Shoebridge be agreed to.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the amendment to the Selection of Bills Committee report as moved by Senator Duniam be agreed to.

Sue Lines (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the amendment as moved by Minister Gallagher be agreed to.