Mr ABBOTT (Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service) (10:31 AM) —in reply—I would like to thank members for their contributions to this debate. As has been pointed out, the Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment Bill 2002 is a non-controversial bill. It is a bill which is proceeding by agreement. It changes the act to provide that the administrative and operational support provided to the Seacare scheme should in the future be provided by Comcare rather than by the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations itself. I particularly welcome the contribution of the shadow minister, who in his typical, thorough style went through all the provisions of the bill, and indeed the amendments that I am about to move, and gave a very clear explanation. I also thank the member for Canning, who similarly gave a very clear explanation of the provisions of the bill. Then, of course, the member for Mitchell livened up proceedings a little bit. It is good to have a bit of vigour here in the Main Committee.

I think we have had a useful debate. It probably ought to be said that sometimes the importance of these housekeeping amendments gets lost. Nevertheless, we do need to keep our legislation up to date and relevant. I think this debate demonstrates that there are many things that we can agree on and other things that we can compromise on in this House, and this bill is an illustration of how constructive things can be under the right circumstances. I commend the bill to the chamber.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.