Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry

The majority voted in favour of a motion:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) order for production of documents no. 144 was agreed by the Senate on 8 February 2023, requiring the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to table documents regarding a domestic organic standard or regulation for Australia,

(ii) the order included the requirement to table any correspondence to and from industry organisations regarding a domestic organic standard or regulation for Australia,

(iii) the Minister sent correspondence to Australian Organic Limited on 14 December 2022, and

(iv) the correspondence between Australian Organic Limited has not been tabled; and

(b) that the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry attend the chamber at 3.30 pm on Tuesday, 28 March 2023, to provide an explanation for no more than 5 minutes of the failure to comply with order for production of documents no. 144 as agreed by the Senate on 8 February 2023, and explain why all documents relating to this matter have not been tabled;

(c) any senator may move to take note of the explanation required by paragraph (b); and

(d) any motion under paragraph (c) may be debated for no longer than 30 minutes, shall have precedence over all other business until determined, and senators may speak to the motion for not more than 10 minutes each.

Read more about these types of motions on the parliamentary website.