David Norris (Independent)

May I make clear precisely what the gap is? Senator Healy Eames's amendment was to insert, between lines 5 and 6 on page 30, the words, "consultation with relevant parties, and". Section 20(10) reads:

The Minister may prescribe procedures in respect of the determination of an appeal by an appeals officer pursuant to this section and may provide for such matters as--

(a) information to be furnished to the officer and by what parties, and

(b) ensuring that the determination is made with a minimum of formality consistent with giving a fair hearing to the person making the appeal.

The subsection refers to one specific person, the appeals officer. There is no reference whatever to the involvement of local personnel, although that is not precluded. The fact that it is not precluded does not overcome the difficulty that nowhere is the sense, import or fact of the necessity for the involvement of personnel from groups such as the VEC specified. For that reason, it is important that this gap be made clear. It is a significant gap, although it is not one that will be allowed to hold up the passage of the legislation.