Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I think I may have got the answer. The Department of Finance has commenced a scoping study into the future ownership options for Australian Hearing. That is correct. We, as a government, are committed to ensuring that all eligible Australians, particularly the most vulnerable, have access to funded hearing services. What the government has announced at this time is a scoping study. No decision has been made by the government on the future ownership of Australian Hearing. As anyone who observed the provisions of the budget for 2014-15 would have seen, the Department of Finance was funded in that budget to undertake the scoping study.