Senator ELLISON (Minister for Customs and Consumer Affairs and Minister Assisting the Attorney-General)(8.39 p.m.) —I would like to set the record straight. The government does not believe that its bill was so deficient that it had to support the opposition's amendment. Its support for the amendment does not mean that. The government has made it very clear that there are temporary exemptions, and that they provide for the safety of consumers which is sought.

As to the question of harmonisation, it is a brave person who says that food regulation throughout Australia and New Zealand should not be harmonised or, at the very least, made uniform. In fact, ANZFA is setting about doing that. Harmonisation, if you are interested in consumer affairs, can only result in a better state of affairs for consumers.

The government can say to Senator Stott Despoja that it will not harmonise away the protections for consumers. Indeed, harmonisation will enhance the protection for consumers, just as ANZFA is setting out to do with the uniform food hygiene regulations that it is seeking to achieve in the next few years. Any question of harmonisation presenting some sort of mischief to consumers is just not on.

In answer to Senator Margetts's question as to how often the ministerial council meets, the council meets once a year. But that does not stop business being conducted outside of session. Senator Cook would remember from his time as a minister that ministerial councils do a lot of business outside of the meeting. If you think that that is strange, it is in fact the norm. Therefore, if you think, `They only meet once a year; they don't do much,' you are quite wrong. You need to know a bit more about ministerial councils before you say that, because a lot of work is conducted out of session.