Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

The first point is that Australians have been waiting for this Senate to do its job and pass the legislation, and delays have consequences for ordinary people. It might not have consequences for people in this place. It has consequences if you're a nurse or a teacher trying to get a house; it has had consequences for 10,000 of them.

Secondly, I assume states and territories, with the passage of this legislation and the certainty that that provides, will not want their citizens locked out of capacity to access the scheme. Thirdly, while there are other similar schemes in some of the states and territories—I'm advised that in Western Australia 100,000 people, over time, have benefited from a similar scheme, though it doesn't have exactly the same architecture—the states and territories will be very keen to make sure that New South Wales people, Victorians, South Australians, Western Australians and Tasmanians all have access to this scheme.