Mal Brough (Longman, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Two tenders have been called to date—card insurance, and management and systems integration. These tenders have now closed and have been evaluated by the department. I am advised that the department met with the tenderers today to reassure them of the process and to take any advice et cetera from them so they know where it is going.

The minister has previously indicated that no major access card contracts will be signed until after the passage of the legislation and that remains his position. Of course, it is the prerogative of any incoming government to change that, if there is no contract in place—obviously if there are contracts in place then there are issues of contract and, obviously, liability if someone’s contracts are torn up. But that is the prerogative of an incoming government, so I could not comment on that.

The minister is cognisant of the fact that potential delays in the passage of legislation may result in revised time frames for the procurement and that is something that the department spoke to the tenderers about today.

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