David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

Let me repeat: I have not used this number in the debate and you have heard Senator Wright describe the terms in which the number was given to her. I have just been advised that the number is based on the notion that $15,600 per person per year over four years for a total of 2,000 persons would add up to a cost of $100 million.

Setting that to one side and considering for a moment existing entitlements, the government seeks that the Senate note that all participants are eligible for free cancer treatment now. They can get the gold card if their illness results in the disability pension of 100 per cent or more. Widows of course receive a pension and a gold card where the participant's death is related to service. Noting those existing entitlements, I hope that provides a little bit of illumination about where that $100 million number might have come from.