David Norris (Independent)

That includes our revered colleague from the other House. The difficulty is the matter of delay. The tribunal is not a court of law and has a lower standard of proof in terms of giving evidence, which is not tested in quite the same way. The tribunals always make the point that they are not courts. However, if somebody makes an outrageous, defamatory and untrue statement, and that is known to the tribunal, there is no rebuttal for a period of 18 months. That period constitutes a severe punishment for the innocent party. This is the element I believe Senator Walsh is trying to address. It might not be possible to address it at this point in the Bill but Senator Walsh has done a useful service by drawing attention to it. I am a strong supporter of the tribunals but I believe that some of them have been milked by the legal profession.