David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I am advised that there may be some confusion on Senator Xenophon's part over incapacity questions and compensation questions. The government maintains that the two statements he has identified are not incompatible. The first asserts that longstanding custom and practice in this area is being preserved and clarified by the amendments in this bill, and it is because offsetting has always been based on the same incapacity that we are trying to ensure the interpretation of provisions does not change over time.