Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) | Hansard source

I just want to indicate the opposition's voting position on this. I note that Senator Whish-Wilson seeks to ensure that young people around Australia are appropriately covered by life insurance, and that is an objective which Labor shares. But we won't be supporting these particular amendments; they propose a quite bold change to the architecture of insurance and safety nets in Australia, including a very significant role for government. Inevitably, it would have financial implications for government.

I think one could see in Senator Whish-Wilson's contribution that there are a number of uncertainties about the practical implementation arrangements for the scheme proposed in the amendments and, whilst creative, it's not a scheme that we would support, and so we won't be supporting the amendments.