Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I can assure the minister that I'm not trying to be cute or political about the question, but the opposition is being asked to support an amendment put forward by the government to the government's own bill. If we're being asked to do so, I believe it's appropriate to ask if the minister might be able to enlighten us on any fiscal impact that this change might have.

The minister was indicating, possibly, that this means people are only getting money earlier; that may be the case. Given that it appears to be happening in the same fiscal year, that doesn't raise any real concern for us in terms of impact on the forward estimates. But surely the government hasn't put forward the changes without considering the fiscal impact?

And I should correct myself, Mr Deputy Speaker Mitchell: in my opening remarks I was talking about 1 December as the original application date for those who will possibly now become eligible under the assets change. That date is actually 1 November, which will now be 1 September. But my understanding is that the DHS system will not be capable of processing applications for those who, potentially, are now securing eligibility because of the change in the assets test. The process won't allow DHS to process them until 1 October. The question then becomes: why 1 September? And is the ongoing delay, which is system based, posing any threat to the capacity of those who are coming in as a result of the assets test change to secure the first $6,000 payment or $3,000 payment, whatever it might be, depending on their circumstances?

See this speech in context