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

I apologise to Channel Seven's David Koch because the Prime Minister's remarks about March not being too far away were in an interview with him, not on national radio as I suggested. I'm bringing this to a close now. I assume that part of the changes in timing are about the capacity of those who are coming into farm household allowance for the first time because of the change to the asset test threshold enabling them to secure the first $6,000 payment. I ask the minister what risks still remain other than their capacity to get their own paperwork in order. What risks remain to them being denied the first $6,000 payment? In other words, we have people coming in, possibly for the first time, because of a more generous assets test, and their application is now allowed to be lodged on 1 September. I still understand there are some processing difficulties, which will delay the processing of those applications. The opposition remains concerned that those people might still be denied the $6,000 payment—that is, the first tranche of the supplementary payment—through no fault of their own.

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