Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move Greens amendment (2) on sheet 5598:

(2)    Schedule 1, page 3 (after line 27), after item 3, insert:

3A  At the end of Part 8

Add:

132 Regulations providing for means testing of the annual Government contribution to be paid to an FHSA

                 The Minister, by 30 November 2008, must provide by legislative instrument for the means testing of the annual Government contribution to be paid to an FHSA.

This amendment introduces a means test similar to other ways in which state and Commonwealth governments ensure that scarce funding is targeted at people most in need. We have introduced it by way of regulation, so we have not determined a threshold, but I expect that that would be commensurate with other forms of means tests where similar instruments are used in different legislation.

Basically, we are just making sure that the people who need this kind of assistance are the ones who receive it. At the moment I find it extraordinary that we would not be means-testing such a device. The people who simply do not need this kind of assistance would still be able to draw upon it, and that is money that we cannot spend on people in far greater need. So I commend this amendment to the Senate.