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

I'd just like to clarify the Greens' position on these matters. The Greens will be supporting these amendments because we think that these issues have been well traversed and it's time that we did see some movement on them.

In terms of amendment (1), which is, as I understand it, the amendment that Senator Pratt has just moved, I did listen to the minister's answer to the question on this and the fact that you asked for examples. The fact here is that the very existence of this particular process, where somebody thinks that they could have their payment reduced, actually puts people off seeking a review. That's why we think this is so important; it's so that people aren't put off. People are traumatised by the scheme. A lot of people, I will acknowledge, have had a good experience, but a lot of other people haven't, and they find the whole process retraumatising. We hear from people who say that they start to do the form and just doing the form retraumatises them because they rethink about it. They leave it for a while before they go back to it, before they complete the form. So I can totally see how people could be put off seeking a review having gone through the process and then thinking that their payment might be reduced.

So we think this is particularly important and we think these amendments—for example, increasing the cap from $150,000 to $200,000—are, as I said, way past time. The Greens made it plain at the time that we actually supported that—it should have been $200,000 all along. It's the same with the indexation of prior payments. Survivors have been complaining and deeply concerned about this since the very get-go. I do acknowledge that the government has done a lot of work to get institutions to sign up, but having this in legislation gives effect to that, to something the government has been doing now. This is the same with the other amendments, but I'll come back to those as Senator Pratt moves each one.

The CHAIR: The question is that amendment (1) on sheet 1196 revised, moved by Senator Pratt, be agreed to.