Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I can firstly confirm that, yes, it was scheduled to commence on 1 July 2009. Secondly I can confirm that it was originally envisaged that there would be a private clearing house. However, on being elected, the government assessed the implementation of the policy and it identified a range of risk factors and practical issues which have been well debated. I could repeat them but Senator Xenophon is always urging restraint in my contribution on these superannuation issues! The government did consider the option of developing a regulatory framework to apply to a private clearing house. However, while a regulatory framework could mitigate the risk employee entitlements are exposed to, it cannot remove it entirely. In contrast, delivering the service through a public sector entity removes the risk associated with private sector provision—and Senator Milne has just touched on one of those issues—because the Commonwealth will effectively be standing behind the clearing house and underwriting any risk to the security of employee entitlements.

The government is also mindful that Medicare Australia has significant capacity and expertise in payment processing. We all know that because we all use Medicare. Medicare processes more than 500 million services annually to the value of more than $30 billion. It is uniquely positioned for the reasons I outlined earlier, particularly for small business and in rural and regional areas as well.