Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Security Amendment (Improved Child to Adult Transfer for Carer Payment and Carer Allowance) Bill 2022. I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:

(1) notes the Coalition Government's long delayed changes to the age transfer rules for Carer Support Payments, when children with a disability or terminally ill are turning 16 years, have caused needless anxiety for families; and

(2) condemns the Government for continually failing Australia's 2.6 million carers, including aged carers, especially through the COVID pandemic".

There are many ways to measure the success of our country and society. Ultimately the measure of our shared humanity is the support we provide to those who do the quiet, difficult and remarkable things that make the lives of those around them happier and more fulfilling. Of all the measures in every budget handed down by governments of both persuasions, those are the ones which show our strength as a country, an economy and a society. That is our view. It is the predominant view of our country because it is so obviously the right thing for us to do as a nation.

It is not a view shared by those opposite. Those opposite see supporting their fellow citizens as nothing other than a cost to be cut at every opportunity. The only thing those opposite like more than spending public money to try to shore up their own jobs is cutting government supports to the vulnerable, whether it is the pension, the NDIS or payments to carers. They tried it on in their first budget, and they haven't stopped since. Tony Abbott tried to cut indexation for carers, something expressly and deliberately designed to leave people on carers' payment almost $80 a week worse off by now. Those on this side of the chamber opposed those cuts. It was only through strong efforts across the country that those opposite were shamed into abandoning their efforts to make life harder for carers. In that same budget, they cut away the concessions that helped carers manage the cost of living. In 2015, Scott Morrison, the present Prime Minister, made a deal with the Greens to cut payments by changing the assets test.

The attacks on those doing it toughest didn't change when the Liberals changed Prime Minister. Malcolm Turnbull, with Scott Morrison as his cutter in chief, kept up the Liberals' shameful tradition of putting people in need of support last. Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison thought the best thing for the country was to cut thousands of dollars a year from some of Australia's lowest-income families. Scott Morrison's enthusiasm for cuts meant that Malcolm Turnbull promoted him to Treasurer, where he kept up the cutting, trying to slash the energy supplement designed to help carers cope with price rises caused by the government's energy policy chaos. He succeeded on his second try, and excluded carers from the energy assistance payment in the 2017 budget.

The changes the government is bringing forward with this bill are a worthy but modest change which will iron out an inconsistency in the way that payments are treated when children reach 16. It also provides a sensible and compassionate change to the eligibility for payments to carers caring for someone with a terminal illness between the ages of 16 and 18. Currently carers who engage proactively and early and have their child assessed for eligibility as an adult can find that their payments are ceasing earlier than those who do not engage. This bill means that payments will be made to carers until their children reach the age of 16 and three months so that carers who engage in a timely way are not disadvantaged.

This bill also makes changes to eligibility for people with a terminal illness who are between the ages and16 and 18. In essence, carers looking after a person who is likely to pass on between the ages of 16 and 18 will not lose access to payments or need to go through an adult assessment process. Carers in this circumstance are enduring one of the most difficult times I can imagine, and I can't imagine one member of this place taking issue with this modest, compassionate measure, which will leave families with one less hurdle to confront.

These changes will make continuing to access vital support easier for those receiving the carer payment, and Labor will support them, and I indicated that earlier on in my speech, as well as moving the second reading amendment. These changes will not make up for almost a decade of attacks on carers and the support they depend on. Labor will never forget the government's history of shameful treatment of those they should have been proud to support.

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