Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Minister. The opposition will be supporting all of the amendments that have been put forward, with the exception of the one that has not been moved, (64), which is going to be voted on separately and is subject to an amendment that has been moved by Senator Pocock.

Can I just highlight the fact that these amendments have been brought forward as a result of the fantastic committee process that was in place, and it just highlights the absolute value of consultation and transparency. I think it points to the fact that, if we had actually had the kind of consultation and transparency that we've had through this committee process through the entire journey of developing this reform package, we probably would not be sitting here, at the eleventh hour, concerned about the timeframes in which we were able to implement these reforms, because we would have been able to iron out all of these issues along the way. It was absolutely inconceivable, as to things like the powers that should have been delegated, for the system's governor to delegate powers to ensure that other agencies were able to put in place the necessary changes for these reforms to be put in place. It took somebody from my office to actually dig through the legislation to realise they'd been completely omitted.

But it's fantastic that we've now seen that there is greater definition around the hardship provisions. I thank COTA particularly for their huge amount of advocacy, on behalf of more vulnerable Australians, to make sure these provisions have been contained in this bill. It is great to see that the government has eventually listened to the concerns of all of the stakeholders that have such a stake in this particular reform package, and, for that reason, the opposition will be supporting the amendments moved by the government.