Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will start where the previous speaker finished, with 'hopeless, helpless and hapless'. Yes, the opposition certainly demonstrated to us on this side of the House that that is exactly what they are. They have demonstrated their lack of care for families. When the member for Blair talked about health and hospital reform, I could not help but go back to the days when the Leader of the Opposition was the health minister and remember the pain he inflicted upon Australians when bulk-billing declined. He constantly stood up in this House and said, with a smirk on his face, that he was the best friend that Medicare ever had, while, at the same time, he slashed benefits and undermined the effectiveness of Medicare.

It makes such a difference when you have a government in power that actually delivers on the promises that it made in the election. This is a really good-news piece of legislation. I can understand why members on the other side of the House get quite upset when I point out to them how we are delivering for families in Australia. We are delivering in a big way for families—something that they did not do. Those opposite took from families and made it difficult for them to visit their doctors, because doctors had stopped bulk-billing. People had difficulty in purchasing their medicines. What we have done on this side of the House is deliver better access to family payments and provide more flexible advanced payments of family tax benefits. A Healthy Start for School is a component of this legislation as well as a strengthening of compliance in child support, thereby making it easier for families.

I did not mention at the beginning of this contribution that I was rising to speak on the Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Election Commitments and Other Measures) Bill 2011. This legislation delivers to the Australian people and to the people of Shortland. It is really, really good news. This legislation makes some pretty important changes to family tax payments. They are changes that will make it easier for families. This will provide for more flexible advance payments of the family tax benefit. Families need flexibility. Families will be able to receive a larger and more flexible advance of their family tax benefit entitlements to help meet unexpected costs. Anyone who has had children themselves or who has a young family knows how those unexpected costs arise. Everything is going along swimmingly and the car breaks down, the fridge blows up or the washing machine breaks down. Labor is recognising the fact that there are unexpected events in the lives of families and that not all families have a constant stream in their lives.

The maximum amount of advance payment will be linked to a family's rate of payment. Generally, a maximum of 7.5 per cent of a family's rate of payment could be advanced. For a family, with one child under the age of 12, this will be around $312. We all know that, if you have a problem with your car, $312 is a big help towards having that car fixed. For a family, with two children under age 12, it will be $625. An overall maximum amount of $1,000 will apply. Advances will only be approved where Centrelink is satisfied that the advances themselves will not cause financial hardship.

There will be one minimum rate for all payment advances, which will be set at an indexed amount of around $160. Some families on the base rate of FTB A will have access to a smaller advance because of their smaller existing entitlements. Families who receive an advance will then have their subsequent fortnightly entitlements over six months adjusted to recover the advanced amount. Currently, the maximum advance is fixed at $324, and this can only be advanced twice a year—on 1 July and 1 January. This is a very inflexible arrangement. As I highlighted earlier in my contribution to this debate, these payments can be used for those unexpected events—the car, the washing machine or the refrigerator breaking down. Unfortunately, for families, those events do not happen on 1 July and 1 January each year. These events are unexpected. These changes are designed to incorporate those sorts of events into a family's life. It is about flexibility and it is based on the needs of families; it is not about an unexpected event happening on 1 July or 1 January each year.

The other component of this legislation that I am particularly excited about is the measure that will make the payment of family tax benefit part A supplement for a child turning four in a particular income year conditional on that child undertaking health checks, such as the Healthy Kids Check on the Medicare Benefits Schedule.

I have a grandson, who is now aged five. When he turned four, I actually took him to the doctor and he had that Healthy Kids Check. I was very impressed with the health check that he went through. The doctor measured him, weighed him, tested his hearing and eyesight and went through a full medical history of young Sam. After about 15 or 20 minutes he was given the all clear. It was very beneficial. I walked away from there knowing that he was a healthy young boy who could play sport, who could hear, who could read and who should have no problems with his learning. A child who has a hearing deficit, a sight deficit or some other deficit that is not picked up can end up having problems when they start school. The height-weight ratio is a very important index. In this era where we are confronted with an obesity epidemic it is important to ensure that our children's weight and height are right for a child their age and that their weight correlates with their height. One of the biggest problems that we have in our society today is an increase in obesity. That obesity is starting at a younger age, and it leads to chronic diseases such as diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is now being identified and diagnosed in quite young children and adolescents. The Healthy Kids Check is important. If something such as obesity is identified, then the doctor can work out a healthy eating plan, an exercise plan and can talk through the issues with the parents. That can improve that child's health outcomes and, I suppose, their future—the choices that they will have in their life. Because, unless you are healthy, you have so many restrictions placed on you. If you are obese, it becomes a vicious circle. You find it harder to exercise and, because you find it harder to exercise, you do not exercise and when you do not exercise you put on more weight. And so it goes on. By the time that four-year old reaches puberty he or she is quite obese and by the time they are young adults the problem has been exacerbated.

I really want to emphasise how important the Healthy Start for School measure is and to encourage all families throughout Australia to recognise its importance and have their child undergo the Healthy Kids Check—not only the children who are covered by this legislation but all children—because it is about their child's future and also about the long-term health of our nation. The requirement in the legislation we have before us applies to families where either of the parents or their partners have been on income support at any time during the financial year in which the child turns four. Income support families who do not meet the new requirements will have their family tax benefit A supplement withheld, as the objective is to ensure that all children have a health assessment. Families who take their children to a health check within two years of the end of the financial year will be able to claim the supplement. This measure is about putting in place an incentive to encourage all families to ensure that their children have this health check. As I have already mentioned, this is vital not only for that child, not only for its family, not only for the community but for the long-term health of Australian society.

There are two other issues in this legislation. One is strengthening compliance in the child support system. The current system will be replaced by a more accurate process. Each and every member of this House knows about the issues that surround the child support system and about the issues around compliance. The process that will be put in place following the introduction of this legislation will help with a number of the problems that exist at the moment with child support. The other component of this legislation, one that I particularly embrace, is streamlining the notification process for compensation recipients. This is a measure in the 2010-11 budget which will streamline the process of notifying Centrelink when payments are made by payers of compensation, such as insurers. In other words, if a person is to receive a compensation payment, it places an obligation upon the insurance company, or whoever it is, to pay compensation as quickly as possible. As somebody who has worked in rehabilitation and with people who have received compensation payments, I know just how much of a problem it is if people do not receive the payment quickly. They are unaware of it. They end up with a debt to Centrelink and, as well as that, they can miscalculate or be unable to calculate their financial circumstances for the next 12 months, two years, three years—or however long their preclusion period is—before they are entitled to receive Centrelink benefits.

This is excellent legislation. It is a Labor government delivering to the people what, before the last election, they promised they would deliver. This, along with the education tax rebate being extended to uniforms, the childcare rebate going from 30 to 50 per cent, the payments of childcare rebate being made on a fortnightly basis and the Paid Parental Leave scheme, is great news for Australian families. (Time expired)

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