Senator RUSTON (South Australia—Minister for Families and Social Services and Manager of Government Business in the Senate) (15:12): Thank you very much, Senator Siewert. I acknowledge Senator Siewert's ongoing interest in this particular matter. As I mentioned in my response to Senator O'Neill when she asked me a similar question in relation to the recent improvements that we are proposing to implement in ensuring the fairness with which we approach making sure that the Australian social welfare system is sustainable, and as Senator Siewert would be well aware, one of the very fundamental tenets of our social welfare system is its ability to be sustainable. We have one of the most broad-ranging and comprehensive social welfare systems in the world, and part of that is to ensure that, of the over $110 billion that is spent annually on social welfare, people receive only that which they are entitled to—no more and no less. The PRESIDENT: Senator Siewert, on a point of order? Senator Siewert: I was pretty tight with my preamble and asked a very specific question: will the government now implement recommendation 1 of the 2017 Senate inquiry, which was to put this process on hold? The PRESIDENT: You've restated what was a tightly worded question. At this point, Senator Siewert, I actually believe Senator Ruston was being relevant—if making a point that you disagreed with. The minister is allowed to provide reasons for an answer, so I'll call the minister to continue, but I am listening very carefully. Senator RUSTON: As I said, recovering overpayments is absolutely fundamental to our welfare system. What we have continued to do, through the process of listening to the responses that we receive through Senate inquiries such as the one to which Senator Siewert refers and listening to the general public, is make sure that we constantly refine what we are doing to ensure that we have a balance between ensuring that we recover debts that are owed—money that is owed to the taxpayers of Australia—and making sure that the system of collection is fair and equitable but, equally, robust. That is something that I believe that the Australian public expect of their government. So the processing of debts has been a feature of our system— Senator O'Neill interjecting— Senator RUSTON: I'll take the interjection from Senator O'Neill. I'd just like to quote this to Senator O'Neill: 'We want to make sure that people aren't receiving welfare to which they are not entitled, and no-one gets a leave pass on that.' I wonder who said that? I think it may have been your previous opposition leader, Mr Shorten. The PRESIDENT: Senator Siewert, a supplementary question?