Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing and Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Security and Indigenous Legislation Amendment (Budget and Other Measures) Bill 2010. This bill encompasses three schedules. Schedule 1 completes the government’s response to the report of the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce, Carer payment (child): a new approach. The proposed amendments will bring consistency to the assessment of carers of children for carer payment and carer allowance. Indeed, it was the coalition in 2006 that recognised the gap in government assistance for families caring for children with disabilities. It was the coalition that initiated a review in March 2007 into carer payment (child) to examine the ability to provide a safety net for carers of children with profound disability or severe medical conditions. The review, which recommended a fairer assessment process and less red tape, was handed to the incoming Rudd government in November 2007.

In the 2008-09 budget the Rudd government announced it would provide $293.6 million over five years to improve assistance to carers. A key measure was to expand qualification for carer payment paid in respect of a child. As part of the measure, the government announced it would implement a new assessment process to determine qualification for carer payment paid in respect of a child based on the amount of care required by a child with disability or two or more children with disability, rather than the rigid medical criteria used to assess qualification for the payment. The Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) Bill was introduced in the House on 19 March 2009 and received assent on 23 June 2009. The coalition supported that bill. The amendments made by the schedule commence on 1 July 2010.

The proposed amendments under schedule 2, which relate to the income management regime, include: removing the concept of special account and replacing it with the income management record, allowing the collection of income management debts through the social security debt collection system, allowing recovery where funds have been paid to an income management account in error, allowing the secretary to credit the income management of certain customers earlier in some circumstances, giving the minister power to specify the amount of the deductible proportion of two new student scholarships, and some other amendments relating to financial management of income management accounts.

The objective of schedule 3 is to provide a guaranteed minimum income of $45 million per year to the Indigenous Land Corporation. The Indigenous Land Corporation currently receives annual income through investment earnings from the realised real return on the investment of the land account in the previous financial year. The land account is administered by the Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs portfolio. Since 2004-05, the value of payments to the ILC from the land account has fluctuated as a result of changes in the value of the realised real return on investments. These fluctuations have caused difficulties for the ILC in its long-term strategic planning. This legislation will establish a guaranteed minimum earning for the ILC. The payment will be set in the first year at $45 million and indexed at the CPI.

When earnings from the land account exceed the minimum amount, a supplementary payment will be made in addition to the annual amount. The supplementary payment will be the difference between the land account actual balance and its real capital value. In a situation where the guaranteed payment for any year exceeds the earnings from the land account, no supplementary payments will be made in future years until the real capital value of the land account has been restored.

Current capital value of the land account is $1.7 billion, with investment earnings averaging $50 million over the medium term. Regulations will be drafted to establish a review mechanism to assess the revised ILC earning system established through this legislation to ensure the $45 million is sustainable. The coalition will be supporting this bill when it is returned to the House.

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

in reply—In this bill, the Social Security and Indigenous Legislation Amendment (Budget and Other Measures) Bill 2010, the government is pleased to introduce a significant 2008 budget measure that supports Australia’s carers. This initiative for carers is the final instalment of the government’s legislative commitment responding to the report of the Carer Payment (child) Review Taskforce entitled Carer payment (child): a new approach. The new changes are part of a $294 million package from the 2008 budget to better support carers of children with disability and serious medical conditions.

The legislation for improved support for carers enacted in 2009 had as its centrepiece a new assessment process to determine qualification for carer payment paid in respect of a child. Central to this new assessment process was the introduction of the Disability Care Load Assessment (Child) Determination 2009. In this new bill the government now brings forward amendments that will deliver consistency in the assessment of carers of children for carer payments and carer allowance. This Disability Care Load Assessment (Child) Determination will now be used for qualification purposes for carer allowance as well as for carer payment. This alignment will bring consistency to assessments of carer allowance and carer payment paid in respect of children under 16 and will improve the overall efficiency and effectiveness of those assessments. The list of recognised disabilities will also continue to apply in determining eligibility for carer allowance.

The demands on carers are well known to the government, the senior minister—Minister Macklin—and indeed all Australians. We recognised these demands by introducing in this bill a further amendment to allow carers a further three months after the child they are caring for turns 16 in which to complete the Adult Disability Assessment Tool to test their eligibility for carer allowance (adult). Under the current rules, a carer loses their carer allowance when the child to whom they have qualified for the allowance turns 16, unless they have been assessed and given a successful rating under the Adult Disability Assessment Tool. Through this bill, the carer will have up to three more months in which to have the care receiver assessed and rated under the Adult Disability Assessment Tool. This amendment will align the provisions for carer allowance with the relevant provisions for carer payment which were amended in a similar way in 2009.

Among two non-budget measures also included in this bill are minor improvements to the income management provisions in the social security law. These related to administrative matters such as appropriation, debt recovery and financial transactions. One of the amendments will apply, for example, when a third-party organisation that holds income managed funds for a person such as a community store owner ceases to operate. Under current rules, these amounts become debts to the Commonwealth and the person cannot be reimbursed until the debt recovery process is finished. This amendment will make sure the person can be reimbursed from the Consolidated Revenue Fund before the debt recovery action is finished. Any recovered funds from third parties will be recredited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund once the debt recovery action is finished.

The income management amendments in the bill will also fix some current debt recovery inconsistencies between people’s income managed funds and their substantive payment under the social security law.

Jamie Briggs (Mayo, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Briggs interjecting

Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Children's Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mayo for his support. Further amendments will remove any ambiguity about the appropriation for income management payments and align the reimbursement processes for unauthorised transactions under the BasicsCard with the Electronic Funds Transfer Code of Conduct.

The last measure in the bill is to amend the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Act 2005 to ensure a reliable income stream for the Indigenous Land Corporation, which is established under that act. The corporation’s purpose is to help Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders to acquire and manage Indigenous held land so as to provide economic, environmental, social and cultural benefits. The main source of funding for the Indigenous Land Corporation in a financial year is a payment made from the land account established under the act that is equal to the realised real return on the investments of the land account in the previous financial year. The value of these payments to the corporation from the land account has fluctuated in recent times because of the changes in the value of the realised real return. Long-term strategic planning has been made more difficult for the corporation by these fluctuations.

The government is committed to securing a more reliable level of funding for the Indigenous Land Corporation. Accordingly, this bill has a guaranteed annual payment of $45 million from 1 July 2010, and the payment will be indexed for later years according to the consumer price index. Where the actual capital value of the land account exceeds the real capital value of the account, the bill will also allow additional payments to be made to the corporation of an amount equal to the excess above the real capital value. The real capital value of the land account will be maintained. This bill also provides for an independent review of the effectiveness of the funding arrangements after three years. I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.

Ordered that this bill be reported to the House without amendment.