Senator TAMBLING (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Aged Care.) (10:21 PM) —The government opposes these amendments which address matters of process surrounding consultation on applications. The bill already provides the capacity for the regulator to seek advice from or consult with any party the regulator considers necessary, including state and Commonwealth agencies. The bill provides explicit requirements that the regulator must consult relevant Commonwealth agencies and state agencies for all applications involving intentional release of a GMO into the environment. The regulator may also consult on all other applications, including contained work.

The amendment proposed by Senator Brown would also require the regulator to seek advice on individual applications from a gene technology consultative committee. Again, this issue was considered in detail by the Commonwealth and all states and territories, which were strongly of the view that under no circumstances should this approach be adopted. The committee is a policy committee and, given the extensive consultation processes described in the bill, it is inappropriate to provide applications to the Gene Technology Community Consultative Committee. However, the GTR will be able to refer matters of community concern raised in applications to the committee for consideration. I note that the ALP will move an amendment to clause 107 to make this explicit, and the government is disposed to support that amendment. Finally, amendment No. 59 simply provides more detail in the bill about matters that the regulator must take into account in preparing a risk assessment and risk management plan. Again, all of these matters are dealt with in the regulations. This is appropriate, given the level of detail that must be included. We are happy to consult further with Senator Brown on the wording of the regulations if the senator so desires.