Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services, Housing, Youth and Women) Share this | Hansard source

It answers my question, but it probably does not satisfy a number of the companies that have tendered for work in this area. There have been, it seems, a number of complaints from suppliers who have accused the Department of Human Services of expecting them to put in bids that cost them millions of dollars to produce in the first instance without really having nailed down what this smartcard is going to look like and whether you are going to get the support of the parliament to actually introduce it. Now it seems that this delay may be an indefinite delay. Indeed, if there is an intervening election, the project may not proceed at all. Can you tell us why we are in a situation now where an exposure draft is being released after companies have spent millions of dollars? Why was this more detailed consultation not done before these companies were asked to invest millions of dollars in preparing their bids?

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