Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Siewert, we clearly understand that that period of transition from 1 July is the critical touchpoint that we need to focus all of our attention on in making sure that we give people as much information as we possibly can so that they make the right decision. Understanding that there are circumstances, as there currently are now, where the information that's contained in the form may not be absolutely accurate, any errors that are made in declaring income will be handled in the usual way. They just need to be corrected at a later date or as soon as they become known to the recipient. Certainly we are absolutely alive to the situation where that is the absolute one critical point in the process of transitioning to this new, better way of reporting, obviously, because people are reporting actual payments received instead of estimating what they might be receiving. Clearly that is something we need to be very alive to, making sure we have all of the resources that we possibly can apply at that point. We will make sure that people who are on income support payments who are earning income over that period of time, or the period when they first choose to move across to this and actually report income, have every resource that they currently have available to them, with staff that are trained in understanding what this particular change means.