Sharryn Jackson (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Families, Housing and Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Will the minister explain what action the government is taking to help workers in the charitable sector? Are there any threats to this assistance being provided?

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hasluck for her question, because she, like other members of the government, was deeply concerned when just a few weeks ago we were made aware of the impact of a change to the definition of income used by family assistance law that was made by the previous government. This was a change made by the previous government about two years ago. In its 2006-07 budget, the previous government announced changes regarding the treatment of fringe benefits. If this measure is not reversed, it will have a devastating impact on the charitable sector. Families could face being up to $100 a fortnight worse off.

At the time that the measures were introduced, many in the not-for-profit sector and the Labor opposition were not aware of the impact of these changes, and the previous Howard government certainly made no effort to publicly explain the impact on the not-for-profit sector. The government have moved quickly. We have moved urgent amendments to restore the use of net reportable fringe benefits for the calculation of income in family assistance law for things like family tax benefit and childcare benefit. The amendments are being made to a budget bill under my portfolio that is currently before the Senate. What we saw last night from the opposition, in what can only be described as a petty political stunt, was them moving to block other elements of this very important budget bill in the Senate. ‘Why?’ you might ask. They say that it is because they oppose simple checks on whether people are still eligible for the Commonwealth seniors health card.

I want to share a little bit of history on this very important issue. The previous government actually undertook a compliance check back in 2006 on this question of eligibility for the Commonwealth seniors health card. There was in fact data-matching of names and addresses between the tax office and Centrelink conducted by the previous government. They identified 28,000 cardholders with income above the qualifying income limits, and the previous government subsequently cancelled those people’s cards. So when they were in government they were prepared to do the things that are necessary to make sure that only those who are eligible for the card actually keep their card, but now they are in opposition, of course, all they want to do is play petty politics with a very important bill.

The previous government’s measure in fact only found about 70 per cent of the ineligible cardholders, and it was not an ongoing measure. The proposal that is in this very important bill in the Senate will provide an ongoing regular checking mechanism. These are just compliance checks that are currently used in other parts of the social security system for other family assistance payments—checks that are all about making sure that eligibility for assistance means that only those who are eligible get that assistance. What we are seeking to do is collect tax file numbers to make sure that only those who have income under the cut-off point actually get to keep the Commonwealth seniors health card and retain the use of that card. Nothing could be fairer than that. When they were in government they thought that this was a fair approach. Now that they are in opposition, all they want to do is play silly games with what is a very, very important piece of legislation.

The opposition’s amendments to this bill are unacceptable to the government because we want to protect the integrity of the social security system. I will just repeat what the Treasurer said a few moments ago: blocking this bill will put at risk the changes to fringe benefits that will make sure we can protect workers in the church and charitable sector. So time is of the essence. If this bill does not get through the Senate, we will not be able to make sure that people in the church and charitable sector are not up to $100 a fortnight worse off from next week. So we do need an urgent change to this law. Now is not the time for the opposition to play silly political games in the Senate. What we need is for this bill to get through the parliament so that we can protect people in the church and charitable sector, who are doing such an important job in our community.