Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to indicate the coalition's support for the Social Security Amendment (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment) Bill 2023. I will make some very brief comments on the bill. What this bill seeks to do is actually improve and streamline the processes for the very important disaster recovery payments that are provided as federal assistance in times of disaster, including the disaster recovery payments and the disaster recovery allowance, which is a key case in point. These payments are provided for through Services Australia, and I commend and thank Services Australia for their very efficient processing of applications in times of disaster. Often, for families impacted by natural disaster, these payments provide them with the capacity to put food back on the table after they've lost nearly everything.

I commend the government for undertaking a review of the processes and identifying where we can make the processes faster and more efficient—specifically allowing the minister to identify the time for which a person must have been living in Australia before they are eligible to be granted these payments—and also for addressing some anomalies in the formulae for how carers were dealt with under this bill. I commend the government for their work. We will be supporting this through the chamber.