Senator ELLISON (Minister for Justice and Customs) (5:41 PM) —Without going too much over ground that was dealt with previously, these amendments would remove strict liability from offences regarded as critical to Customs' community and revenue protection responsibilities. The government maintains that this removal would adversely affect Customs' capacity for early identification and treatment of high risk cargo. Early and accurate information is essential to community and revenue protection objectives and it should not be dependent on the intent of the provider of the information. The government is therefore opposed to these amendments and it believes that they carry too far the exclusion of those proposed offences which deal with strict liability. For that reason, there is a very worthwhile public interest objective to oppose the opposition's amendments.