Linda Reynolds (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to speak about the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Legislation Amendment (Exit Arrangements) Bill 2015, which will amend the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988, to manage the exit of employers from the Comcare scheme. I listened with great interest to the debate earlier this afternoon and I must start by congratulating Senator Ludwig on his verbal gymnastics and his ability to muddle and confuse a very straightforward and clear bill. I would like to commend Senator Xenophon for his rebuttal of Senator Ludwig's points and the very measured approach he has taken to addressing some technical issues with the minister.

If Senator Ludwig thinks this is such a conspiracy, he should talk to no-one further away than his own Senator Gallagher, who was actually the Chief Minister here in the ACT and who was the one who initiated the request for the ACT to exit this scheme. Far from being the big conspiracy that Senator Ludwig has intimated, this is actually a very simple provision. It is simple because what this bill seeks to do—nothing more and nothing less—is to close a loophole. The practical impact of not closing that loophole would be that the ACT could exit the scheme and leave—

Debate interrupted.