Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Banking and Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

You are right—on behalf of the government. What really concerned me at the Senate estimates hearings was that Senator Minchin denied that a commitment had been given. That was very disturbing. What we also found out at Senate estimates in February was that the government is awaiting a report from an actuarial firm—I am not sure which actuarial firm; the name does not come to mind—on the implications of the implementation of this with respect to the defined benefit funds that we are talking about here today. That is fine; I can understand them doing that. But what I cannot understand is the backsliding by Senator Minchin and the parliamentary secretary. Senator Minchin knows my views, because I reminded him about this at Senate estimates. Labor supports the amendment. It is what the government promised and has failed to deliver on over the last two years.