SUBCONTRACTORS —
PAYMENT SECURITY
419. Mr P.A. KATSAMBANIS to the Minister for Commerce:
Before I ask my supplementary, I seek
some form of clarification. Did the minister not hear the question or was that
his answer to the question?
Several members interjected.
Mr P.A. KATSAMBANIS: I will
then ask a supplementary. Why did the minister quietly dump this broken
election to subcontractors in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis simply to avoid
public scrutiny?
Mr J.R.
QUIGLEY replied:
As
I have stated previously, I do not understand the basis of the question. We
have not dumped subcontractors at all. As the member will see from
public statements, trust is required in an economic and efficient way when
resolving disputes, otherwise money will be
held up in the trust. First of all, we had to deal with the west coast model
and bring it into line with the
eastern states model of security of payment legislation, which will soon be
before the Parliament. We have not dumped anything. We have to do it in
stages—simple.
The SPEAKER: That is the end
of question time, members.