Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Hansard source

I will be paying it some attention. I have to put on the record, Senator Ronaldson, that my wife works for Housing Tasmania on the north-west coast of Tasmania so I do get more than passing information about local circumstances and what will happen. I might become one of the coordinators to make sure the money is being spent properly! I will get the inside information. But we do want to see a funding split between regional and urban areas. From a Tasmanian perspective, whilst the entire state of Tasmania is regional, I would be very keen to ensure the north-west and regions outside the south and Hobart receive an appropriate split of these moneys for targeting. The package is targeted to high-need clients. The states must identify in their proposals which dwellings are targeted at particular groups—such as people with disabilities and Indigenous people—and we had an earlier discussion about that.

Senator Siewert asked when the education entry payment supplement would be paid. Those eligible for the EdEP bonus will receive it when they receive their EdEP. If you have already received your EdEP, you will receive the supplement from 24 March 2009. Other people who commence study over the period up to 30 June 2010 will receive the $950 as they start their course, as well as the $208 education entry payment.

I think we are just about up to date on answers to questions so far. I have a couple of extra answers, and Senator Joyce may want to come back because they might be relevant. I will take just two minutes. When was the government first advised the budget was in deficit? The Treasury on 19 December provided advice to the Treasurer on updated economic forecasts and gave an informal indication of the implications for the budget. Following that there were informal discussions between the Prime Minister and the Treasurer about the government’s fiscal position and further work was requested of Treasury in advance of a briefing for the strategic policy and budget committee. The committee was briefed on the economic forecast and fiscal position on 19 January, at a meeting to discuss the further package of stimulus measures to be announced in February. Further Treasury work followed to ensure the fiscal position forecast was sufficiently robust to be released publicly. The digital proofs were returned to Treasury at 8.45 am on 2 February, Senator Abetz. I do not know whether that indicates the Treasurer was up all night through to 8.45 am. I suspect he was working a fair share of that time.

On the Newstart question from Senator Siewert. There is no available data to provide an estimate of the number of Newstart recipients who will receive the tax bonus. This is because they relate to individual circumstances at two different points in time. The tax bonus relating to net tax liability is for 2007-08 and receipt of Newstart allowance relates to a point now or in the future. For example, it is likely that many people who are on Newstart allowance now were employed during the course of 2007-08 and would therefore receive a tax bonus. For a person on Newstart allowance not to receive a tax bonus, they would need to have had no net tax liability in 2007-08.