Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker Slipper, I congratulate you on your appointment, this being the first time you have been in the chair when I have been speaking. In April this year, Minister Macklin and I met with a number of carers at Ballarat Health Services, and they are an extraordinary group of women who have been caring for their children—predominantly children with a mental health issue—for a long period of time. As many of these women hit retirement age, they are very concerned about the future financial security of their children. One of the issues raised was their capacity as carers to establish trusts for their children with disabilities and the penalties that their children then incur in relation to their disability support pensions. In particular, the rules as they currently apply act as a disincentive for carers to establish such trusts and for people with a disability to participate in the workforce. The carers that met with Minister Macklin and me outlined the importance of the government in making changes to the way special disability trusts are administered. They understood the important role that these trusts played in assisting carers to provide care for a family member with a disability but outlined the need for amendment to the rules. Minister Macklin came away from that meeting expressing the urgent need to fix this issue. Although the issue was already being explored, I think the impact that those carers had on Minister Macklin sparked the initiative being brought forward.

Last week, Minister Macklin introduced the Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Budget and Other Measures) Bill 2010, and that bill contained a range of measures, including amending the special disability trust provision in the social security and veterans’ entitlement legislation. With the introduction of this bill, we have addressed one of the core concerns of the carers at Ballarat Health Services. Under the current rules, people with a disability are unable to benefit from a special disability trust if they work for the minimum wage for as little as one hour. That is a disincentive for people with a disability to work and for carers to establish these trusts. We have introduced the bills to change the special disability trust rules. Under our new proposal, carers of people with a severe disability and their families have more flexibility to determine how best to utilise their trusts to assist their family members who have been impacted by disability. From January 2011, people with a disability who are the beneficiaries of a trust will be able to work up to seven hours a week in the open labour market and still qualify. The trusts will be able to pay for the beneficiaries’ medical expenses and to spend up to $10,000 in a financial year on discretionary items not related to the care and accommodation needs of the beneficiary of the trust.

The Gillard government is committed to people with a disability and to their families and carers. We have recognised the commitment through a range of initiatives in the past, and we continue our support with the introduction of this bill. I want to thank Minister Macklin for listening to the concerns of residents in the Ballarat electorate, and I commend her for her efforts in addressing these issues promptly. This is great news for the many carers that we met with in April, specifically those carers at Ballarat Health Services.

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