Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

With the greatest respect to Senator Wright, this is actually not about whether she has or has not satisfied herself in relation to this matter. I am sure an enormous amount of due diligence has gone into this. I am not aware that Senator Wright is an expert in this field but she may well be and if she is then I apologise. But it is not actually a matter of Senator Wright satisfying herself; it is about Senator Wright and the Greens and the government satisfying themselves that indeed proper process has been followed. That is what it is all about, not whether Senator Wright has satisfied herself in relation to this. Senator Wright could have satisfied herself in relation to this by actually telling those organisations what was in this addendum to the explanatory memorandum and asking them. If they had said to her on the back of her going to them with the words from this addendum, 'I am satisfied with it,' then Senator Wright would be quite entitled to make the comments that she has. She actually would have tested her views in relation to this against the addendum. But she has not tested those views against the addendum. She has tested her views in relation to her interpretation, not on the back of what the peak bodies were saying about it. So, with the greatest respect, that is not sufficient investigative work.

The parliamentary secretary told me before that the work had started on these policies. What stage are they at? When did that commence and when will they be ready for ex-service organisation consultation?