Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

The point I'm making is that this bill is not about increasing social security payments. I have said the way the government deals with that and consideration about that is through the budget process. This is not an appropriations bill, and it hasn't been brought to the chamber in that way. This has been about working through some of the legal and other compliance issues that have been raised with me as a minister and with Minister Plibersek and responding to that in the most urgent and timely way that we are in a position to, and we will continue to do so. I accept the legitimate debate that the Greens have and that we engage in and that we consider as part of our budget processes. But this is not the bill that seeks to do that. It's around ensuring legal authority, and this is urgent and serious, because we want to make sure that those urgent payments can continue to be made.