Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Bernardi. I can assure you I'm not being tricky. The loan scheme was designed taking into account a large range of factors, including the Commonwealth's constitutional powers to do this. The legal advice that was taken throughout the process was obviously an iterative approach to receiving advice; it wasn't just one piece of advice received at one point in time. So yes, the government has received legal advice. It received legal advice throughout the whole process in relation to the loan scheme that is being currently designed and the decisions in relation to how that is going to work included the constitutional power for the Commonwealth to be able to undertake and deliver the loans under the proposed method.