Department of Education

Sarah Henderson

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) order for the production of documents no. 374, agreed to by the Senate on 7 November 2023, relating to the Minister for Education's review of the Higher Education Loan Program Australian Taxation Office payments system, has only been partially complied with,

(ii) a further order, no. 465, agreed to by the Senate on 27 February 2024, requiring the Minister to fully comply with order no. 374, by no later than 5 pm on 28 February 2024, has not been complied with,

(iii) a further order, no. 490, agreed to by the Senate on 18 March 2024, requiring the Minister representing the Minister for Education to fully comply with order no. 374 or attend the Senate after motions to take note of answers on 20 March 2024 to provide an explanation of the failure to fully comply with the order, resulted in the Minister attending the Senate to provide such an explanation,

(iv) in giving the explanation, the Minister stated 'I'm advised by the minister that he responded to that order, and enclose documents, with the exception of documents related to cabinet deliberations which were prepared for the dominant purpose of briefing a minister on a cabinet submission and to ensure cabinet remains an appropriate forum for informed consideration of policy advice', and

(v) the fact that a document is prepared for the dominant purpose of briefing a minister on a cabinet submission is not in itself recognised by the Senate as a proper basis for the making of a public interest immunity claim;

(b) orders that, unless order no. 374 is complied with in full by 29 March 2024, the Minister representing the Minister for Education be required to attend the Senate after motions to take note of answers on 14 May 2024 to provide a further explanation, of no more than 5 minutes, of the failure to fully comply with order no. 374 with particular reference to the claim that the documents are related to cabinet deliberations which were prepared for the dominant purpose of briefing a minister on a cabinet submission;

(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 business until determined, and senators may speak to the motion for not more than 5 minutes each.

Anthony Chisholm

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Sue Lines

Leave is granted for one minute.

Anthony Chisholm

The government will not be supporting this motion. The minister has maintained his claim of public interest immunity in relation to certain documents sought. The claim is consistent with longstanding practices under previous governments. The minister has previously said that this issue would be considered by the Australian Universities Accord. It's been addressed in the accord's final report, which has now been released, and the government is considering its response to that report.

Sue Lines

The question is that general business notice of motion No. 512, standing in the name of Senator Henderson, be agreed to.