Crimes and Other Legislation Amendment (Omnibus No. 1) Bill 2026

Senator CASH (Western Australia—Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (18:49): The coalition will be supporting the amendments moved by Senator Bell on behalf of One Nation, and I would like to put the context on the record. In 2024, the coalition supported the government's amendment to the definition of 'hors de combat' on the basis of clear assurances by the then attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus, about what that change was intended to do.

We sought assurances from the then attorney-general's office about precisely what the amendment would do, and, in my second reading contribution, I put those assurances expressly on the record, and I said: We have been assured that the changes avoid a potential unintended consequence but do not otherwise change the intended operation or effect of the definition.

I also made clear in my second reading contribution that the coalition, in supporting that amendment, was expressly relying on the advice provided by the office of the former attorney-general, Mark Dreyfus, about the intent and the effect of that change. The assurances mattered. The amendment was supported on the basis that it was a technical correction and, as I said, did not otherwise change the intended operation or effect of the definition.

Sadly, as I have come to learn under this government, it has now become apparent that its effect was broader than the assurance clearly provided to us by the then attorney-general, and the coalition believes the appropriate course of action is to now restore the previous definition, which is what this amendment will do. Given that the assurances were given to me by the then attorney-general—and, as I said, I specifically referred to this in my second speech—it will greatly surprise me if the government has now come to a different view and the actual effect of the amendment put forward by the government at the time that was carried is actually inconsistent with what the former attorney-general put forward.

It is on that basis that the coalition will be supporting Senator Hanson's amendment.