Chris Ellison (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

The government agrees to the two amendments moved by Senator Humphries. I think that these are important amendments which ensure that we get it right. Even though we are at the committee stage now, if there is a sensible amendment then it would be foolhardy to ignore it. Senator Humphries has outlined the background to it, and I want to thank him and the Standing Committee on Community Affairs for the work they did. A number of aspects have been taken up from the committee report. This was touched on during the Senate inquiry.

On the issue of the responsibilities of directors of health funds, the government views the responsibility to the corporation as being indirectly to policyholders—the members of the funds. If the corporation is run well then the fund itself will have flow-on benefits to the members of the fund. Quite appropriately, the Corporations Law sets out very clearly the responsibilities of directors, and we believe that the flow-on from that is that where a director dispels their duty accordingly—if it is done properly—the members of the fund will enjoy that. The government agrees with these amendments. It is important that we get them into the bill for the reasons Senator Humphries outlined, and I am grateful to him for bringing these forward.