Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Social Security and Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (2009 Budget Measures) Bill 2009 substantially deals with two measures from the budget.

The first aspect of this bill is the provision for an ongoing lump sum payment of $600 a year for people on carer allowance and on carer payments. This provision effectively regularises payments that have been made since 2004 under the Howard government. I would like to take this opportunity to place on record—and I am sure that this is shared in a bipartisan sense—the great appreciation of parliament for the fantastic work of carers in Australia. I suspect it would not matter how much we paid them; most Australians would agree that it would never make up for the huge contribution they make not only to the people who they care for but, of course, to the wider community.

In 1998 the former coalition government extended the support to carers of children with a profound disability. I think it was in 2004 that we introduced the carer bonus payment, which was a one-off carer bonus payment of $1,000 to each person in receipt of the carer payment and $600 to each recipient of a carer allowance, which was then announced in the 2004-05 budget. In effect, that continued until this day. What this provision does is regularise that payment.

The only other aspect of this bill of note is to suspend for three years the indexation of the income threshold to the people accessing family tax benefits. This is a straight savings measure and is non-controversial. It will not be opposed by those on this side. Again, the carers are the unsung heroes of the Australian community, and I feel that these payments only really give recognition and acknowledgement to the work that they do. I commend this legislation to this place.

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

The Greens would like to briefly put on record our support for the approach in the Social Security and Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (2009 Budget Measures) Bill 2009 and also acknowledge the value of the work that carers contribute to the community in Australia. Without those carers, we would not be able to deliver the care and look after the people who are most in need of care in our community. Quite frankly, we would not have functional care services.

The latest statistics show a contribution of $30 billion worth of care per year to our community. I think that is an underestimation of the care that is provided. The past up-and-down yearly system of bonuses has been unfair to carers because it leaves them in doubt each year as to whether they are going to be able to make ends meet and whether they are going to be able to get that extra little bit of support, so the Greens will be supporting this bill. We particularly want to acknowledge their contribution.

We would also like to put on record for the government that we think there is still further work to do in support of carers. We are aware of the bill that we would have been debating this week—it now looks like it has been put off—and that is the bill that is coming to deal with carers of children in particular. But there is other work that needs to be done, and I know that both the government and the opposition are aware of this. There are other issues that need resolving for carers, particularly around their long-term requirements. We all know that carers have to come out of the workforce and they do not get superannuation, and I know that carers are keen to get better coordination across government. I will acknowledge—particularly as she is in the chamber—that Senator Stephens is looking at these very important issues but there is still a greater need for coordination across government.

I will also say—and I will go into this in more detail when we talk about the next bill—that there is still a considerable way to go to help carers. A lot of work has been done recently about helping and supporting carers of children, but there are still quite a few issues that need to be resolved for carers of adults, particularly our ageing carers and carers looking after the frail and aged, particularly their partners. So we will be continuing to pursue that with government, as I am sure Senator Stephens knows. We would like to put that on record and put the government on notice that we will continue to follow those issues up. I am pleased that carers will now not have to wait with bated breath each year to see if they are going to get that extra little supplemental bonus and that their enormous contribution to our society is acknowledged.

Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Prime Minister for Social Inclusion) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I say thank you both to Senator Siewert and to Senator Scullion for indicating their absolute support for the Social Security and Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (2009 Budget Measures) Bill 2009. It is most important that we get this bill through the Senate so that we can reward and acknowledge the contributions of carers. We need to have this passed so that it can take effect from 1 July. I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.