Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services) Share this | Hansard source

in reply—In this bill, the Social Security and Indigenous Legislation Amendment (Budget and Other Measures) Bill 2010, the government is pleased to introduce a significant 2008 budget measure that supports Australia’s carers. This initiative for carers is the final instalment of the government’s legislative commitment responding to the report of the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce entitled Carer payment (child): a new approach. The new changes are part of a $294 million package from the 2008 budget to better support carers of children with disability and serious medical conditions.

The legislation for improved support for carers enacted in 2009 had as its centrepiece a new assessment process to determine qualification for carer payment paid in respect of a child. Central to this new assessment process was the introduction of the Disability Care Load Assessment (Child) Determination 2009. In this new bill the government now brings forward amendments that will deliver consistency in the assessment of carers of children for carer payments and carer allowance. This Disability Care Load Assessment (Child) Determination will now be used for qualification purposes for carer allowance as well as for carer payment. This alignment will bring consistency to assessments of carer allowance and carer payment paid in respect of children under 16 and will improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of those assessments. The list of recognised disabilities will also continue to apply in determining eligibility for carer allowance.

The demands on carers are well known to the government, the senior minister—Minister Macklin—and indeed all Australians. We recognised these demands by introducing in this bill a further amendment to allow carers a further three months after the child they are caring for turns 16 in which to complete the Adult Disability Assessment Tool to test their eligibility for carer allowance (adult). Under the current rules, a carer loses their carer allowance when the child to whom they have qualified for the allowance turns 16, unless they have been assessed and given a successful rating under the Adult Disability Assessment Tool. Through this bill, the carer will have up to three more months in which to have the care receiver assessed and rated under the Adult Disability Assessment Tool. This amendment will align the provisions for carer allowance with the relevant provisions for carer payment which were amended in a similar way in 2009.

Among two non-budget measures also included in this bill are minor improvements to the income management provisions in the social security law. These related to administrative matters such as appropriation, debt recovery and financial transactions. One of the amendments will apply, for example, when a third-party organisation that holds income managed funds for a person such as a community store owner ceases to operate. Under current rules, these amounts become debts to the Commonwealth and the person cannot be reimbursed until the debt recovery process is finished. This amendment will make sure the person can be reimbursed from the Consolidated Revenue Fund before the debt recovery action is finished. Any recovered funds from third parties will be recredited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund once the debt recovery action is finished.

The income management amendments in the bill will also fix some current debt recovery inconsistencies between people’s income managed funds and their substantive payment under the social security law.

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