Senator IAN MACDONALD (Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) (10:42 AM) —I wish to table some documents and outline to the Senate the background to this. The Senate requested access to documents related to ethanol through an order for the production of documents in October 2002. As senators would be aware, similar documents were sought under the Freedom of Information Act and a number of documents were released during 2003. Following discussions between the government and the Democrats, particularly Senator Allison, the government agrees to release to the Senate those documents previously released under the FOI act.

I table a schedule listing all documents provided by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources, the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry pursuant to those FOI requests. I also table documents provided under the FOI act from the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the Prime Minister's office. This goes some way towards meeting the Senate's order for the production of documents. The remaining documents released under FOI will be collated and tabled by the next parliamentary session. I extend thanks to the Democrats for their assistance, which now allows us to debate the vital legislation before us.