Joanna Tuffy (Labour)

I move amendment No. 42:

In page 23, subsection (1), line 16, to delete "may" and substitute "shall".

My amendment is similar to that of Senator Cummins. The joint policing committees should be established in every area and it is not appropriate the Minister should have discretion to establish such committees. The Minister will be remembered for this initiative and he might as well go the whole hog to make sure the committees are set up. I presume they will be established while he is still in office but what if they are not and his successor does not have the same enthusiasm for them? The Minister should make the establishment of the committees a mandatory requirement. This could be an important and worthwhile initiative and I hope the Minister gets the committees up and running while he is in office. If he does not, he might regret that he did not make it mandatory.