Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Hansard source

This is my final question to the minister for families and community services. I again appreciate the spirit with which she has entered into this, her willingness to engage and also particularly her preparedness to not take five minutes for an answer. I refer the minister to the family income management measures that were part of the budget—the voluntary family income management measures that were part of the budget—and I congratulate her for that. My understanding is that the only areas where voluntary income management will be possible, at least in the 2008-09 financial year, are the Kimberley area of Western Australia and the Cannington area of outer metropolitan Perth. I have two questions: first, does she have any idea as to the time line for when voluntary family income management will be available more widely; and, second, with regard to compulsory family income management welfare quarantining for people who are not sending their kids to school and so on, when does she think that might actually start happening outside of the Northern Territory, Cape York and the Kimberley?

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