Dr SOUTHCOTT (Boothby) [7:00 PM] —by leave—I move opposition amendments (4), (5) and (6) as circulated in my name:

These amendments relate to the publishing advice for the CEO. The National Preventative Health Task Force recommended a high level independent statutory body. Instead, the government is making this agency an arm of government. We believe that the recommendations and advice should be as transparent as possible. They should be transparent and open to public scrutiny.

The changes that the coalition is proposing will increase the transparency of this body, and I emphasise that this measure is taken from an amendment which was moved by Senator Xenophon during the debate on this bill in the Senate last year. These changes will mean that the CEO must publish a copy of any advice or recommendations on the agency’s website. This is about the future health of our nation and as such it should be subject to public scrutiny and debate.

Amendments (5) and (6) relate to the need for broad representation on the advisory council. The government has acknowledged in the explanatory memorandum that the advisory council could include industry representatives. The minister, I believe, said so in her second reading speech. So we need to look at the membership structure of the advisory council. We believe that it is important to get outcomes in preventative health whereby you have a focus; where you do have representation from industry representatives and also consumer health organisations. We believe it is important that by working with industry and preventative health experts we get these outcomes. I encourage members to support these amendments.