That's precisely what we understood. That's why we're tabling the amendment. Since transparency is the underlying principle of the bill, we don't want the minister to decide which individual in his department is to be subject or not subject to clauses 35 and 37. We also want the Integrity Commissioner to decide for all other positions.
So we want to amend subclause 38(1). We want to replace the words “A minister of the Crown or a minister of state may exempt” with “The Commissioner may exempt”. We could also write: “may exempt upon consultation with the minister.” That wouldn't be a problem at all.
Why would the minister be judge and party with regard to the decision to exempt or not to exempt a particular member of his staff?
I'm sure this is just a minor breach of transparency by the Conservatives that they'll no doubt want to correct immediately.