Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

The Department of Human Services provided over $34.7 billion in payments on behalf of the government to age pensioners last year. This department, however, is much, much more than just a payments agency. The department provides personalised services to senior Australians—services like Australian Hearing, who, of course, help Australians with their hearing impairments. They deliver almost a quarter of a million hearing health services to senior citizens every year. The government is also providing more than 156 Financial Information Service officers who help Australians understand and make informed decisions about their finances. These are people who work with older Australians to help plan for their retirement, and there are some 2,700 seminars in which 80,000 participants joined last year. Of course, we are looking to find new ways to make— (Time expired)