Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Hansard source

This will be the last question for the Deputy Prime Minister from the opposition so that we can go to the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. I want to thank the Deputy Prime Minister for appearing here in person and also, in anticipation, the minister for community services. I concede that ministers did not always appear in the former government, and I think it is good that they have appeared. I think the opposition will be talking to the government about how the format for this might be improved and regularised for next year’s budget. I refer the Deputy Prime Minister to an observation she made in her last answer where she said that, as part of awarding contracts for the new childcare centres, the government would have regard to the pricing policies of the operators. My question is: will the government be instructing the tender assessors to disregard tenders if a tenderer has raised prices at their other operations by more than a particular percentage?

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