Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank senators for their contribution on this really, really important bill. I suppose I am somewhat disappointed by the contributions particularly made by the Labor Party and, to some extent, Senator Siewert. They know that this is a scheme that is voluntarily contributed to and also requires the agreement of states and territories for any changes to the act. To do otherwise would be in breach of our intergovernmental agreement with the states and territories. This bill reflects the initial action of the government. We have managed to get agreement for five amendments in order to progress five of the recommendations of the two-year review.

Senator Siewert, in relation to funder of last resort, the government has already publically stated that it supports the funder of last resort arrangements to cover defunct institutions where there is no government responsibility and where existing institutions do not have the financial capacity to join the scheme. We made that position very, very clear in our interim response to the two-year review and have reported that in the media as well. We've also received funding allocations through budget measures to make sure that we have the funding of the federal government's contribution, and we await the states and territories to come back and confirm to us that they also agree to do this, but clearly there were budget processes that they needed to undertake within their individual states and territories.

I'd also like to say to the chamber that the government has been very clear about its overwhelming support for many of the recommendations of the Kruk review, but we're also very mindful of the voluntary nature of the scheme, and we are very, very concerned with making sure we keep in the scheme everybody who has agreed to participate in the scheme, because that is the best way that the government can ensure that survivors who put their names forward and apply to the scheme for redress are able to receive the redress that absolutely every one of them deserves. We remain committed to making sure this scheme is survivor focused, and everything we do is in the best interests of ensuring that survivors are at the absolute forefront of everything we do. I commend the bill to the Senate.