Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Disability and Carers (House)) Share this | Hansard source

I ask the minister at the table to clarify some of the issues the member for Bruce just raised. As the member for Bruce indicated, there was an absolute farce in the Senate last week, where the government went all out to kill the bereavement allowance. The Liberals, the Nationals and One Nation voted for the abolition of the bereavement allowance, Labor voted to keep the allowance, there was a tied vote, and then all the things the member for Bruce outlined followed. But what we're still not clear about—and I would ask the minister to explain it to the House before we vote on this amendment—is what the impact of the government and One Nation's change will be. How many people will actually be worse off as a result of this change? I mean worse off compared to the existing arrangements, not worse off compared to the bill that the government previously put into the House. We currently have a bereavement allowance that's paid, as the member for Bruce said, at the rate of the age pension for 14 weeks. A very limited number of people are entitled to it right now. How many people will be worse off as a result of the amendments that are before us compared to the current arrangements, and by how much? Really, the House needs to know.

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