Dan Boyle (Green Party)

I agree with Senator O'Toole that consensus is not the same as unanimous agreement. What we need to have agreement on, in terms of our economic situation, are headline figures and the areas in respect of which decisions must be made, without the specifics in capital, current and additional taxation measures over the next three to four years. It is important for international confidence that we seek that type of agreement. If there are difficulties for Opposition parties in acquiring information from Departments, these need to be overcome. Everyone must be fully involved in this process.

On the call for a debate on the climate change legislation or the Bill proposed by Senator Bacik, it would be in order to have such debate, especially given the Cancun discussions will take place in the coming months. The difficulty is not a political one. There are ongoing meetings of senior officials of various Departments on this legislation. The heads of the Bill have been largely agreed. There is one area of disagreement which appears to relate to who is responsible for what in departmental terms. I am confident this disagreement can be overcome within the next fortnight or so. The difficulty with debating alternative legislation is that not alone do we have Senator Bacik's Bill in this House, the Joint Committee on Climate Change and Energy Security is considering producing a second version of its Bill.