Cory Bernardi (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Community Services) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Siewert, no-one doubts your genuine and very real interest in this sector and your concern about the welfare of people. Please do not misinterpret what we say in that regard. But we have to be mindful that this is a new era. This is a time when we are looking forward. You should stop looking in the rear-vision mirror at what has been done before and start to look at what can be done in the future.

One thing we cannot resile from is the simple fact that we have to make prudent financial decisions based on good information. I respect the fact that you have quoted a cost of $80 million to $100 million, but, with all respect, we cannot rely on that. We need some actual modelling on the financial implications of the suggested amendment. So we empathise, in principle, very strongly with the intent of your amendment. Do not get me wrong on that. But we need to know the financial impact of the amendment before we can consider supporting such a measure. In the absence of that financial modelling on the costs, we cannot responsibly support the amendment.