Mitch Fifield (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, Carers and the Voluntary Sector) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Minister. I have a question which relates to one of the Greens’ amendments and to an issue which was included in the additional comments of the Greens in the Senate committee’s report. It relates to exchange care provisions being made available for carers of a single child. I understand that there may have been some advice provided from the government to the effect that it is not possible, for some technical reason, to actually split the payment between two parents and that if an amendment were to be moved to this effect—to make the payment available for individuals who care for a single child—then both adults would have to receive a full payment. I am just wondering if that is the case. In my view, you should theoretically be able to legislate anything, but I ask whether that is the advice that has been tendered—that it is, in fact, not possible to split that payment on a proportional basis between two adults.