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

I support the comments just made. Senator Xenophon, I would finish on this note. It is about striking the correct balance and it would seem to me that at some point here the government has to be firm about the fact that is not going to be the insurer of last resort for the sorts of failings that you are describing. Obviously the government is committed to establishing a regulatory framework that protects all the participants where possible and practicable, but at some point the balance has to be struck so that taxpayers are not continually exposed for what I might describe as market failure.