Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

My very good friend and valued colleague, Minister Pyne, was very clear yesterday when he made his announcement, and that is that it remains government policy to pursue the savings in the budget and that those savings will be reflected in a separate bill.

Now, obviously it is a matter for the Senate to decide what the Senate ultimately does with that piece of government legislation. But it is the same as was the case when Labor was in government. Over two or three years they were not able to get their attack on private health insurance rebates through the parliament. They kept the budget treatments in place all the way through. We are absolutely acting in a way that is entirely consistent with governments in the past when it comes to the way our budgets are put together.