Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens also have an amendment on the pensioner education supplement. I articulated in my speech in the second reading debate our deep concern about this and the impact it will have on people on the disability support pension. We are not talking about a large amount of money; but, as Senator Wong said, it is a large amount of money if you do not have much money in the first place. We cannot see why the government is actually proceeding with this amendment. It seems to us to be something that will impact quite unfairly on a relatively small group of people—but a group for whom this amount of money is very important.

On our reading of it, a provision in the bill means that basically, as soon as a person has had their second review, they automatically lose their entitlement to PES. This supplement is a very important top-up to people who are trying their best to improve their skills through education, and here we go with another whammy on those who are already some of the most disadvantaged in our community. We have an amendment to oppose this provision in the bill. Obviously, we support all the opposition amendments but specifically the amendment that deals with items 21 and 28, because it is identical to the Greens amendment.