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Wednesday, 18 June 2003
Page: 11798


Senator ELLISON (Minister for Justice and Customs) (9:59 AM) —This is an amendment which the government brought about because of a flaw in the drafting and, of course, clause 4 purports to have the sunset clause apply to the whole of the bill. The Greens have put up a suggestion in relation to the inclusion in this amendment of other matters. We will consider that. It was certainly never the intention to have the sunset clause cover the entire bill—that was made very clear last time. Unfortunately, the drafting did not depict that intention and that is why this amendment, which is of a technical nature, has been moved—to fix a drafting flaw. It did not come about as a result of negotiation with the opposition; it was a government amendment. As I understand it, the Greens are saying that we should extend this further. That is something which we will consider. In view of that, we will have to revisit these two amendments. We will leave them aside. I ask that we move on to the next set of government amendments—(3), (4), (23), (24) and (26). Rather than waste time now, we could come back to it. I move:

That the consideration of government amendments (2) and (63) be postponed.