Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

The question that you were asking me about automation does not impact on 1.5 million families; in the first calendar year it is expected to impact on around 5,255 recipients, who will have an average debt value of $2,138. Essentially, this will reduce future customer debts through the provision of more accurate data. In the first calendar year it is expected that around 5,700 recipients will have their payment reduced by an average of $49 a fortnight, based on what they are actually meant to be receiving and based on more accurate information.

I assume that Senator Cameron is asking me about the impact of the family tax benefit indexation pause. The first point I would make is that the number of families that are impacted by this measure is the same number of families who were impacted by similar measures pursued by the Labor government, including a freeze in indexation over a six-year period on all family tax benefit A and B supplements. It is the same number of families who were impacted by the freeze of the reduction of the indexation arrangements over an extended period for all family tax benefit A payments in the 2009-10 budget. I can confirm that the number of families impacted in 2017-18 from this measure is expected to be 1.4 million families.