Senator COOK (Minister for Industry, Science and Technology and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Science) (11.06 a.m.) —I am advised that Austrade advice to the minister has been that, during the time in which there were no valid guidelines, only 10 applicants were denied approved joint venture consortium status and nine applicants were denied approved trading house status. So that is in two categories.

  Austrade also advises me that these applicants were not disadvantaged, as their applications would not have been successful under the properly constituted guidelines. However, in order to put the issue beyond question, we are seeking appropriate amendments to the act. Austrade has advised the Minister for Trade (Senator McMullan), and through him me, that, since it took over operation or carriage of the EMDG legislative process in late 1991, measures have been put in place to ensure that such an oversight does not recur. All guidelines in the form of disallowable instruments since then have been tabled, and Austrade has met its obligations to the parliament.