Senator CHRIS EVANS (10:29 PM) —I don't want to delay the Senate long, but I do want to indicate formally on behalf of the opposition that we will be opposing the third reading of these bills. We have consistently opposed this initiative by the government because it does not solve any of the problems of private health insurance. It is a complete waste of public funds.

We also put the government on notice that we will be closely monitoring the use of those public funds and drawing to the attention of the Australian public what a gigantic waste of money this proposal is. We will keep the government up to the mark, if this is carried, to ensure that it is widely understood that in order to pursue some political advantage the government has wasted $1.7 billion of public funds. If it does not meet the objectives the government sets for it, the government will have to explain why such money has been wasted in the pursuit of an objective they cannot define against performance criteria they cannot produce.

So we retain our opposition to this legislation. We will be voting against it on the third reading. I do not wish to re-cover all the ground as to why the opposition maintains its opposition to the bills. That has been covered adequately during the debate. We oppose the third reading of these bills.

Question put:

That these bills be now read a third time.