Senator BRANDIS (Queensland—Attorney-General, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:15): I have to set you straight, Senator Brown, because what you have just said to the chamber is wrong. In fact, under the changes introduced from 1 January 2017, nine out of 10 pensioners will either be better off or have no changes made to their pension. The PRESIDENT: Order! Pause the clock. Senator Wong, a point of order? Senator Wong: On direct relevance: the supplementary question was about a different aspect of the omnibus bill which was referred to in the primary question. It was not about pensioners at all—I know Senator Brandis has just found the brief—it was about single parent families. The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Wong. I will remind the minister of the question. Senator BRANDIS: The government is currently spending around $42 billion a year, so we have acted to make the age pension fairer and more sustainable to provide more help to pensioners with modest needs. As a result of the changes, more than 170,000 pensioners with modest needs will have their pensions increased this year. The PRESIDENT: Order! Pause the clock. Senator Wong, a point of order? Senator Wong: On direct relevance—I will speak slowly so perhaps he can find a different part of his brief: the question is about single parent families and cuts to the family tax benefit; it is not about pensions. The PRESIDENT: Senator Macdonald, on the point of order? Senator Ian Macdonald: Mr President, that was an awful insult to you. The Leader of the Opposition said she would speak slowly—she is obviously referring to you, as she must—so you could understand her. I ask you to bring the Leader of the Opposition into some form of courtesy and respect for the standing orders. The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Macdonald. I did not take the senator's comments the way you have interpreted them, although every time senators make remarks they are addressed to the chair and not to individual senators. So you are technically correct, Senator Macdonald, but I did not take the point of order from Senator Wong to be directed towards me, although technically it could be interpreted that way. I remind the Attorney-General that he has 15 seconds left in which to answer the question. Senator BRANDIS: I am trying to explain to Senator Brown the way in which the government is meeting the fiscal challenge which we inherited from those who went before us. (Time expired) The PRESIDENT: Senator Brown, a final supplementary question.