Senator MACKAY (7:56 PM) —I assure the Senate that Labor wants to improve the national security arrangements in our telecommunications industry. As stated in the second reading speeches on the Communications Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2003, we have no desire to obstruct what we regard as an important bill which will strengthen national security arrangements in our telecommunications industry. We want our national security environment to be robust and responsive to the terrible threat of global terrorism against innocent civilians.

Labor initially sought to improve this bill by ensuring that it did not apply to individuals. The government agreed to this amendment and Labor congratulates the government for that. Whilst we would have preferred the government to support our amendments and some of the Democrat amendments, it is now clear that the government will not do so. Our approach has been consistent with respect to national security legislation. We have attempted to strike a balance between strong measures to fight terrorism and protecting the values and freedoms that Australians cherish.

Whilst we have not got all the improvements we wanted to this bill, we have, I believe, extracted a key, significant concession from the government, and that is the removal of individuals from the ambit of the bill. We do not have the desire to block the government's moves to tighten the national security checks against telecommunications carriers. Whilst we would have preferred that our amendments to the bill be made law, it is clear that this is not possible. The choice is between a somewhat improved bill and no bill at all. In the interests of enacting this legislation as soon as possible and strengthening our national security arrangements with respect to telecommunications, Labor will support the bill as insisted on by the government.