Annette Ellis (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to speak on the Family Assistance, Social Security and Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (2005 Budget and Other Measures) Bill 2006. The bill makes several amendments to the social security law and the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 in a number of family assistance related measures, as follows. From 1 July 2006, the lower income threshold for family tax benefit part A will be increased from the current $33,361 to $37,500, thereafter indexed on 1 July. From 1 July 2006, the backdating provisions for carer allowance will be restricted to allow for a maximum backdating period of 12 weeks prior to the claim lodgment date. The Secretary of the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs will have the power to transfer child-care places from an area with an assessed lower demand to an area of higher demand. Child-care benefit debts will be able to be offset against tax refunds. There are also a number of minor technical amendments to the portability of payments overseas and the treatment of superannuation and income streams for pension purposes.

There are many provisions of this bill that we on the Labor side are happy to support, such as the increase in the lower income free area for family tax benefit part A from the current level of $33,361 to $37,500 from 1 July this year. However, we have some major concerns about some elements of this bill, and we are therefore moving several amendments.

I will discuss in detail one part of this bill which relates to the carers allowance. Labor is moving an amendment which will provide a discretionary power for the Secretary of the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs to extend backdated carer allowance claims in cases where there are genuine reasons for the delayed application. The bill as it currently stands will severely cut back the period for which carers can have payments backdated, from the current 12 months for the care of a disabled child to just 12 weeks. It is estimated that this measure will significantly reduce payments made to carers when they first apply for the allowance. The government estimates it will save between $35 million and $37 million each year. That is $37 million currently being paid to carers of Australians with significant disabilities—$37 million that will not be paid from 1 July this year.

Not only is this unfair; it is plain unjust. It is very poor public policy, especially when you consider the often tragic circumstances under which people apply for the carer allowance. The people who will miss out on the carer allowance are all taking care of a loved one who, in more cases than not, has a very severe disablement. They may be carers who themselves have an injury, disability or chronic illness that makes it difficult to access services or help or that prevents them from applying without the assistance of others.

The department admitted to Labor in Senate estimates last year that, under the current arrangements, ‘a high proportion of children’ are backdated for 52 weeks. The department admitted that the number backdated was ‘of the order of 90 per cent’. There are many good reasons why these families have provided care for such a long time without claiming the carer allowance. They are struggling to survive from day to day, and filling out forms is the last thing on their minds. It can also take time for a complete diagnosis or treatment before a family knows exactly the circumstances in which they find themselves. A family can find themselves dealing with great trauma to the family unit. This bill will do great harm to these very people. I am struggling to understand how the government can begin to justify this kind of policy decision. It is beyond my comprehension why savings have to be made on this basis.

The government is trying to make significant savings at the expense of Australians with the hardest of lives—those who care for a child with a disability. Labor’s amendments will give the secretary of the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs the discretionary power to extend backdated carer allowance claims in cases where there are genuine reasons for the delayed application, such as: the person is unable to readily access relevant services or advice just 12 weeks after the disability their family member has suffered; the person was unaware of the carer allowance, not an unusual occurrence from my experience; or the person underestimated the ongoing needs of their child and realised how much care would be needed months after the disabling condition occurred—again, not an unusual circumstance. I cannot believe there would be one member in this place who would not have come across these circumstances in constituency experiences through their time here in the parliament.

Carers make a great contribution to our society by caring for their loved ones who may otherwise be taken out of the community and placed in permanent care elsewhere. The contribution carers make is not only to the people they care for but also to the community and to the economy more broadly. It is estimated that carers save the Australian economy approximately $20 billion annually. They do this by providing this unpaid work.

But we must be honest about the work carers do. It is difficult and provides very few benefits other than the satisfaction of caring for the loved one. We cannot ignore the fact that informal care comes at a cost to carers in terms of their wellbeing, their quality of life, their financial security and their opportunity to be in the paid workforce. It is not at all unusual for people representing carers in this society to describe those sorts of circumstances as dramatically affecting people who find themselves in that caring role, particularly when we are talking about caring for children with a disability. Therefore, in my view and in the view of the people on this side of the chamber, we should be doing all we can to improve the lives of carers and to assist them. Unfortunately, I am of the view that the federal government has done very little in the grand scheme of things to improve the lives of carers. It seems to be doing everything possible to make their lives more difficult when we look at this sort of public policy. This bill is just one example of a mean-spirited government and its attitude towards families and carers of people with a disability.

Labor is moving several amendments to this bill to make it more equitable and far fairer for all of these Australians. One Labor amendment will introduce an income threshold on family tax benefit part B to stop millionaire families from receiving payment. Labor is proposing a family income cap of $250,000 per annum on and above family tax benefit part B to stop very wealthy families from receiving the payment. This measure in itself would generate savings of approximately $7.5 million a year.

One cannot but compare and consider. On the one hand we have families with very high incomes receiving these welfare payments and, at the same time, this government is guiding a policy to make it more difficult for carers of children with a disability to apply for an allowance. One really has to wonder at the anomaly, at the hypocrisy of that kind of policy. It is beyond me to understand the logic behind it; I do not believe there is any. It is quite shameful that in a country where some children grow up without enough food and clothing there are families on annual incomes in excess of $1 million receiving welfare payments.

Other Labor amendments to the child-care provisions would provide a more flexible system for the allocation of child-care places and prevent the government from removing a place from a child-care service unless that place gets reallocated to another provider. This would help to overcome systemic problems in the current approach that have caused chronic shortages of child-care places in some areas.

In conclusion, I wish to draw that comparison again. Why is it that the government is content in this legislation to continue to allow families on very high incomes to receive welfare payments while it is also moving to make it more difficult for people caring for a child with a disability to apply under the current circumstances and in the future? We really need to consider this comparison very seriously when we listen to the government’s claims of governing for all Australians. In summary, Labor support this bill but we are moving amendments which make the changes much fairer to the people I know in my electorate who need that fairness and the people across the country likewise.

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