David Norris (Independent)

I am grateful to Senator Ross for sharing time. Unlike him, I do not have an instinctively negative reaction to the Bill. I understand that, for Cabinet and Government to work efficiently, certain measures must be taken. One must be practical about this and it is unrealistic, particularly in the context of Governments which remain in office for four or five years, to have confidential Cabinet material released after five years. It was previously released after 30 years and I think ten years is reasonable.

There has been an amount of huffing, puffing and posturing about this. I was curious to hear Deputy Burton on radio dealing with this matter as Labour Party spokesperson. I would have imagined that, as it is a Seanad Bill—