Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

In the last two weeks I released a summary of the KPMG business case. KPMG estimates that, over 10 years, the savings will be up to $3 billion. The starting point is fraud and overwhelmingly that $3 billion will be in the area of fraud. We do suffer the difficulty that people do attempt to use—obviously sometimes successfully—a number of created identities in order to claim benefits, particularly from Centrelink.

We have a challenge based on advice that I have received that the current health care cards and pensioner concession cards are not robust and are very susceptible to fraud. The information I received, for example, is that 80 per cent of the PBS is claimed by people with concession cards and that 25 per cent of all concession cards are cancelled prior to the expiry date on the card. That, in itself, represents a concern that people might be using concession cards even though for various reasons they are no longer entitled to the concession. That is one reason why the access card will replace 17 cards and vouchers, and a number of those cards are concession cards. Currently, the government has no way of immediately and remotely cancelling a concession entitlement when it is claimed by an individual presenting an existing card.

I have seen various estimates from a range of sources claiming that the biggest beneficiaries of this will be the states, because they are the ones that give significant concession to individuals on public transport and assistance with rent, electricity, water and in a range of other areas. They base most of that concession entitlement on the Commonwealth cards, and yet they face the same challenge that we do—that is, that those cards are not robust and secure and we do not have the capacity to cancel the entitlement. Let me give you an example. A single parent might be on a single parent’s pension and receive a pensioner concession card. Then, for one reason or another, their assets have increased or their circumstances have changed such that they are no longer entitled to that card. Whilst we can cancel the entitlement from our end, it could be the case that they continue to present the card to get discounts for everything from the PBS to movie tickets. We just do not know.

KPMG provided the estimate of up to $3 billion. That is the financial benefit of the card, but it is the convenience benefit that will be most significant for individuals. The fact is, for example, that 600,000 people, according to KPMG, are turned away from Centrelink every year because they bring insufficient proof of identity information when they roll up to Centrelink. I know that Medicare send out 50,000 letters a year to people who have incorrectly filled out their name and address on a Medicare claim form. That, to me, is the icing on the cake. In fact, it is more than that; it is the carrot on the carrot cake. It represents a convenience to individuals that people have been yearning for but have been unable to obtain. I see that as the real and significant benefit of the access card.

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