Wednesday, 21 June 2023

Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee

Report on the Statute Law Amendment Bill 2022

Iwan WALTERS (Greenvale) (10:43): It certainly is on a committee report; it is on the most recent Alert Digest of the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee (SARC), which I am very privileged to chair.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Under the standing orders you cannot speak on the Alert Digest. There is a report on the Statute Law Amendment Bill 2022 from SARC.

Iwan WALTERS: There is a report that has been recently tabled by the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee. I will not touch on the Alert Digest.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: And the member is speaking on that report?

Iwan WALTERS: I am speaking on that report, Deputy Speaker. It gives me an opportunity to reflect upon the way in which this committee operates. The report that was tabled in the house recently reflects the extraordinary diligence of the secretariat. As chair of that committee it is a great pleasure to be able to work with the secretariat, who bring extraordinary experience and a depth of understanding of our legislative processes. As chair it has certainly helped me to interrogate bills and topics of substance that the committee is inquiring into, such as those covered by the report. The work of the secretariat is also complemented by human rights advisers. The current incumbent of that role Jeremy Gans has been assisting the committee in its work for some time and brings a very great depth of experience and professional wisdom to that role.

In addition to the secretariat I would like to acknowledge and thank my colleagues in this place the member for Tarneit, who is in the chamber, the member for Broadmeadows and the member Shepparton as well and also our colleagues in the other place who assist in making the committee a constructive and generally bipartisan set of processes.

The work of the committee is also supported by a broader secretariat, who I have not properly acknowledged in this place. The member for Tarneit was good enough to do that recently. I would just like to echo his words in thanking Katie Helme, who supports the work of the committee through the subcommittee that deals with subordinate legislation. She does a power of work in developing very clear and succinct but very thorough commentary on every piece of subordinate legislation that comes before the committee. That is, as you would expect, a very significant amount of work indeed.

I note that customarily the work of the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee is confined to the scrutiny of decision-makers in this place, in this Parliament and in this government, but in concluding my remarks I would just quickly like to acknowledge the decision-making of another leader and thank Ben Stokes for his very generous declaration last Friday and acknowledge the fantastic work of the Australian cricket team this morning led by Pat Cummins for a magnificent win in Birmingham.