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

Because of the fact that family tax benefit is an annualised payment we wouldn't be in a position to understand what that might be until it's reconciled at the end of the year, but, in relation to families that are now going to become eligible for the Paid Parental Leave scheme who otherwise had been denied because of the criteria—and now the change enables broader access to it—we do expect that some claimants may need to pay an offsetting debt where the claimant or their partner have been receiving income support newborn upfront payment and newborn supplement for that child and family tax benefit for the backdated period. However, we will be providing information to the people who have become eligible retrospectively and would be seeking to work with them to ensure that any opportunity to mitigate them incurring a debt because they are now able to access Paid Parental Leave will be a very fundamental part of the negotiations with those people as we identify them.