Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I'm extremely disappointed to hear that answer. These are issues that were raised by members of the community and also by the National Welfare Rights Network, who raised very substantial concerns, particularly about the provision for widows. I was pursuing questions about that earlier. They are also extremely concerned about the impact on recipients of sickness allowance, given that people who have an illness aren't able to work for that reason, which is why we're seeking to ameliorate some of these issues. We did seek, through amendments, to remove this schedule. That was unsuccessful, so we're trying to ameliorate some of the impacts on people who could be significantly affected by this amendment. Hence, I urge the chamber to support these amendments.