Louise Markus (Greenway, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs Legislation Amendment (Further 2007 Budget Measures) Bill 2007 as it brings into line a number of initiatives announced in the 2007-08 budget. The budget initiatives in this bill cover significant and diverse areas in the Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs portfolio, and are made possible because of the strong economic management of the coalition government. I believe strongly that families will benefit from these initiatives and will welcome them. Older Australians, families with triplets, quadruplets or other multiple births, refugees and migrants are all covered by the initiatives in this bill.

Older Australians at retirement will benefit from changes to the Pension Bonus Scheme. This scheme is one of the great initiatives for older Australians to stay in work and defer claims on the age pension. Currently, the Pension Bonus Scheme offers a one-off tax-free payment of up to around $32,083 for a single person and up to $26,792 for each member of a couple. The coalition recognises the important role people over pension age play in the workforce, and is committed to supporting their choice to participate. From 1 January 2008, the Pension Bonus Scheme will be more flexible, easier to access and have a range of benefits not previously available. For example, people will be entitled to a top-up of their pension bonus in certain circumstances. Topping up is subject to assessment under the income and assets test. For example, a person retires from work and makes a claim for their age pension and pension bonus. That person’s entitlements and/or superannuation are not settled at the time of the grant of a pension and bonus but are settled shortly after. They are assessed for the age pension and the pension increased because their assessed income and assets have decreased in that time. The top-up is the difference between the amount paid and the amount that would have been payable using the higher rate of age pension.

One improvement that takes into account special circumstances, such as the serious illness of a close family member, is the broadening of the discretionary powers that Centrelink and the Department of Veterans’ Affairs have to extend the period in which people must claim their bonus after failing the Pension Bonus Scheme work test. This will mean that late claims can be considered. In addition, Pension Bonus Scheme members who take recreational leave, long service leave or unpaid leave will be able to continue in the scheme as non-accruing members for up to 26 weeks without failing the scheme’s work test. In this bill a pension bonus bereavement payment will be introduced. This means the surviving partner of a deceased Pension Bonus Scheme member will be now able to receive a payment for accrued bonus not claimed before the death of their partner. Under current rules the bonus cannot be paid to them.

The total cost of this initiative is $46.4 million over four years. As from 1 January 2008, the threshold for funeral investments, which are exempt from the income and assets test, will be raised from $5,000 to $10,000 per person or couple. The new threshold will also be subject to indexation in line with the consumer price index. Increasing the means test exemption threshold for funeral bonds to $10,000 should help people make better provision for their funeral arrangements without affecting their income support. It is estimated that following implementation, on 1 January 2008, around 4,100 social security pensioners and close to 3,400 veterans’ affairs pensioners will receive additional income support.

While supporting older Australians is very much in the coalition’s hearts and minds, at the other end of the scale the coalition is helping families with multiple births of three or more children where the children are under the age of six. The multiple birth allowance was introduced in November 1985 in recognition of the extra costs faced by parents following the simultaneous birth of three or more children as well as the indirect costs of reduced workforce participation, particularly while the children are very young. The benefits are worth over $3,000 per year for triplets and over $4,000 for quadruplets. These families are also eligible for the large-family supplement, which is paid at $255.50 a year for the third and each subsequent child in recognition of the challenges faced by multiple birth families and to relieve some of the financial pressure.

From 1 January 2008, payment of the multiple birth allowance will be extended to family tax benefit recipients who have children under 16 years of age and to family tax benefit recipients, until the end of the calendar year in which their children turn 18, whose children are undertaking full-time study. Over 1,000 families with triplets, quadruplets and quintuplets will benefit from this measure. From 1 January 2008, over 300 families currently receiving multiple birth allowance will continue to receive the payment beyond their children’s sixth birthday and an estimated 746 families will start receiving multiple birth allowance for children who are already over six years of age. Eligible families will receive the allowance for up to an additional 13 years. Extending multiple birth allowance will cost an estimated $10 million over four years.

This bill will also make way for essential assistance for newer Australians. It does this by adding a new category of people eligible to receive crisis payments. Crisis payment will, from 1 January 2008, be extended to humanitarian entrants to Australia to help reduce the significant financial burden faced by them during their initial settlement period. Australia does have a compassionate heart and no-one could begrudge these people this type of help when one hears their stories. In my electorate of Greenway, we have many people who have fled from all around the globe to the safety, prosperity and freedom of Australia. Each year around 6,800 humanitarian entrants will benefit from this measure.

The final initiative that I support in this bill is to do with improving the operation of the Assurance of Support scheme. An assurance of support is a form of guarantee. It is lodged at Centrelink by a person or persons in Australia and is used for people who are at higher risk of needing income support in their visit or migration to Australia. An assurance of support protects the interests of taxpayers by being an amount of money available to be used to repay any income support payments accessed by the visa holder for up to two years, or up to 10 years for contributory parent visas. The Assurance of Support scheme has had its administrative difficulties in the past—for example, where there has been a dispute between the person lodging the assurance of support and the visa holder and the assurer withdraws their support; or it could be that the assurer dies, disappears or goes bankrupt and the visa holder is left stranded. This measure is aimed at improving the operation of the Assurance of Support scheme and simplifying arrangements for people seeking to provide an assurance of support. The measure commences on 1 January 2008. An additional $13.1 million over four years from 2007-08 will be provided to ensure effective, efficient and timely administration of the assurance of support program. I commend the bill to the House.

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