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Tuesday, 13 March 2012
Page: 1497

Senator LUDLAM (Western Australia) (13:35): I move Greens amendment (31) on sheet 7037:

(31)   Schedule 2, item 1, page 39 (lines 14 to 19), omit subitems (3) and (4), substitute:

(3)   To avoid doubt, section 10 of the new radioactive waste law, and the new ADJR Act, apply in relation to a nomination or an approval continued in force by this item.

I will speak very briefly to this one as I have already given the chamber the benefit of my views on the fiction of judicial review in this bill. This is the final amendment to put some teeth into the bill that I propose, so that some judicial review is applicable—namely, that the minister should have some criteria by which to be judged on whether or not he did what the bill said he should do.

At the moment, the bill essentially says if he were to throw a dart at a board in the privacy of his office and decide that that was where the dump was going, that would not be a reviewable decision even if he published a photograph of the dartboard. We do not think that that is appropriate, so I commend this amendment to the Senate.