Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I have further information in answer to a question asked by Senator Siewert earlier this week. I seek leave to incorporate the answer in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The answer read as follows—

RESPONSE: TRANSITIONS FROM PARENTING PAYMENT

I undertook to follow up some matters in response to a question from Senator Siewert on Tuesday in regard to parents moving from the parenting payment to Newstart and other payments.

Advice given to parents

Last year the Department created a team of 300 staff across the country to make contact with parents coming off Parenting Payment. This team has been provided with comprehensive training.

The Department has informed me that officers have not been advised to tell parents that their Schoolkids bonus could be used to compensate for a loss in income support payment.

Staff talked to each individual parent about their circumstances and entitlements. In doing this, parents would have been advised of all upcoming payments they were eligible for, such as the School Kids Bonus, and how this could assist parents with essential education expenditure.

The Department is still giving priority to engaging and supporting these parents progressively transitioning to Newstart under the new arrangements. This includes giving priority to setting the appointments for people to discuss their circumstances.

Use of Centrepay

500,000 customers use Centrepay every week across Australia.

When talking with parents coming off Parenting Payment, departmental staff discussed their Centrepay arrangements and made sure all existing Centrepay deductions continued or were amended as they transferred onto Newstart.

This included advice to parents that, if necessary, they should engage with those organisations receiving their deductions.

The Department also engaged directly with the third party organisations, such as housing authorities and utility providers, to ensure they were aware of the changes for this group.

If for any reason individuals have not had Centrepay settings continued, they should contact Centrelink immediately.

If the Senator has any specific cases that she would like my Department to follow up, I will arrange for them to do so.

Eligibility for Concession Cards

There are various rules relating to customer eligibility for concession cards.

There is no transition period for retaining concession card entitlements when a recipient moves from one payment to another.

Retention of card eligibility is primarily linked to people moving into employment from income support.

However, for Parenting Payment recipients, the Department has a new process that ensures that parents transitioning has been a significant increase to Newstart can continue to use their card pending confirmation of their commencement on a new payment.