Zed Seselja (ACT, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Treasury and Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I thank senators for their contributions and the number of senators, including the opposition and crossbench, who have indicated their support for this bill. Australia's welfare payment system is designed to support Australians who are most in need. This government understands that making responsible decisions to keep welfare spending in check now is the best way to maintain our welfare payment system for future generations. This government also understands the role the welfare payment system plays in encouraging self-reliance and independence for all Australians.

Through this bill, the government is making sensible changes that will promote the sustainability of Australia's welfare payment system, encourage self-reliance for those who can support themselves and better target assistance to those most in need. Australia is a proud and successful multicultural nation. There is no doubt migrants make a valuable contribution to both our society and our economy. It is a longstanding expectation that skilled and family migrants who choose to come to Australia to enjoy all the opportunities our nation has to offer should support themselves when they first arrive. The changes in this bill reflect this expectation.

This bill will encourage new migrants to be self-sufficient while providing appropriate safeguards for those who are more vulnerable. This bill extends existing waiting periods to four years for working age payments, like Newstart allowance and the parenting payment, and certain concession cards, including the low income health care card. This increase will apply to new migrants granted a permanent visa through the skilled and family streams of the migration program on or after 1 January 2019.

There will be no changes to the existing waiting period for the carer payment, which will remain at the current two years. The increase to four years for working age payments other than the carer payment recognises that those on skilled or family visas should not need to rely on payments when they first settle in Australia. By virtue of their visa type, they are well placed to support themselves for longer either through work or through the support of the family members they came here to be with.

Importantly, there will continue to be a safety net through access to special benefit for people who experience a substantial change of circumstances and are no longer able to support themselves as planned. This includes people who come to Australia to take up a job but subsequently lose that job as well as people who experience domestic violence or family breakdown.

This bill also introduces new waiting periods for other payment types. The government has listened to the concerns raised through the Senate committee inquiry process, and these new waiting periods will be shorter than the waiting period for working age payments. The waiting period will be two years for parental leave pay and for dad and partner pay, and one year for carer allowance and family tax benefit part A. These arrangements reflect the nature of these specific payments and provide a more proportionate increase for payments that do not currently have a waiting period. In order to maintain support for those who need it most, there will be no waiting period for family tax benefit part B. This will allow single-parent families or those who have one main income earner to be supported as they balance their work and caring responsibilities.

In recognition of their often vulnerable circumstances, people who come to Australia on orphan, relative or remaining relative visas will not be subject to the new waiting period arrangements and will have no increase in their waiting period. New Zealand citizens on a special category visa will also not be affected by these changes. They will continue to have immediate access to family payments as per the existing rules and will have no increase to their existing waiting period for concession cards. The government is also maintaining the current range of exemptions from the waiting periods. This includes exemptions for humanitarian entrants and their families, in recognition that this cohort are generally not in a position to plan to support themselves financially before coming here.

Carer visa holders who have come to Australia to care for a relative who is unable to access other care options will also continue to be exempt for the waiting period for the carer payment. Migrants who become a single parent after coming to Australia and who no longer have the support, financial and otherwise, of a partner will continue to be exempt from the waiting period for principal carer payments, including Newstart allowance and the parenting payment. As previously mentioned, there will also continue to be an exemption from the waiting period for special benefit for others who experience a substantial change of circumstances and find themselves in hardship. There will be no changes to this exemption, which will continue to provide protections as per existing arrangements.

These exemptions provide a comprehensive safety net for people who are less able to support themselves or who are no longer able to support themselves for reasons beyond their control. These new arrangements strike a balance between promoting a sustainable welfare system that encourages self-sufficiency and providing a safety net for those in need. By reinforcing and strengthening the expectation that migrants should be self-reliant when they first arrive in Australia, the bill will improve the long-term sustainability of the welfare payment system for future generations.

The bill also includes measures that are designed to make the family assistance system fairer, simpler and better targeted. The government is making the income test taper rate for family tax benefit part A consistent by replacing the current taper rate rules, which apply two different taper rates to different families with the same income above the higher income free area, with a consistent 30 per cent taper rate. In addition to making the income test taper rates consistent, from 1 July 2019 the government is also increasing the higher income free area from $94,316 to $98,988. The government's also extending the existing indexation pause to the higher income limits for family and parental leave payments for one additional year, from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021. This pause on indexation will apply to the new increased family tax benefit part A higher income free area as well as the family tax benefit part B primary earner income limit. The pause on indexation for the income limits for parental leave pay and dad and partner pay will also be extended as part of this measure. These changes combine to create a simpler and better targeted family assistance system.

Through this bill, the government is legislating a number of measures that improve the long-term sustainability of Australia's welfare payments system. These measures are targeted to provide support for those who need it most, while promoting self-sufficiency for those who are in a position to be able to support themselves. I commend the bill to the Senate.