Michael Sukkar (Deakin, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Indi. The government is conscious that we want all senators and members to have a very clear understanding of what is within and what is not within entitlement. I think we can all agree that the current set of arrangements certainly provides for a lot of grey area, and that is one of the reasons the Special Minister of State is doing a lot of work at the moment—to try and make that as clear as possible. That will be expedited, though I cannot give an exact time frame.

As for the criminal penalty regime that has been proposed by some members, if anybody, any citizen, knowingly defrauds the Commonwealth, ordinary criminal provisions will apply. But it is our view that a penalty regime of 25 per cent, that could include inadvertent errors, is appropriate and is enough of an incentive to ensure that everybody gets their own house in order and makes sure that those mistakes are not made.

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