Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Aged Care and Senior Australians) Share this | Hansard source

The statement in my press release does not mean tax free—

Opposition senators interjecting—

which is the implication that the Labor Party is trying to make. So the two statements are completely and utterly compatible. The government at no point indicated that these bonuses would be tax free, because that is not the way income bonuses work. They are clearly subject to tax, because at no point in time did we say they would be tax free.