Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Family and Social Services, Senator Ruston. Can the minister advise the Senate what the Morrison government is doing to support Australia's oldest Australians and in guaranteeing essential services for our seniors, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic?

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

Thank you very much to Senator Smith for his question. Also, can I thank him for the recognition of the commitment that we all have to making sure that we support older Australians within our communities, particularly recognising the significant contribution that older Australians make to our economy and to our society, and recognising also the impact that the COVID pandemic has had on all Australians—particularly our older Australians.

We were pleased to be able to put into place two payments of $750 for all eligible pensioners and seniors, in addition to any other payments that they were receiving, to help them with the economic costs associated with the pandemic. As of 31 March 2020, the first round of these payments went out and were successfully delivered to 3.4 million Australian pensioners, as well as to 170,000 carers who were on carer allowance; to 230,000 veterans' payments recipients and Commonwealth gold card holders, as well as 375,000 Commonwealth seniors health care card holders. The second payment will be made in July, and will be made to those people who have not been in receipt of the coronavirus supplement.

Additionally, we have also recognised that with very low interest rates the deeming rates needed to be reduced. Around 900,000 Australians who were income support recipients and who also had amounts of liquid assets in excess of the threshold levels also received a drop in their deeming rates. These reflected the lower interest rates in the economy. Equally, we have been very keen to make sure that our pensioner loan scheme is available to older Australians so that they can, in effect, reverse mortgage their properties to make sure they can have the additional money.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Smith, a supplementary question.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister update the Senate on what initiatives the government has implemented to support our senior Australians?

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

We know that about a third of our senior Australians live alone and that, with social distancing and the measures that we've had to put in place over the coronavirus pandemic, this has meant many of them are relying on different ways to become connected. Connecting online or on the phone is especially important at this time for our older Australians. That's why we have put additional funds into two particular initiatives, to help prevent loneliness and social isolation for older Australians. The first is a $5 million package to significantly expand the FriendLine, which is a telephone line that is free and anonymous and allows older Australians to chat with a friendly volunteer about whatever issue may be concerning them. The funding will boost the line to allow an extra 15,000 calls to be answered in the period. In addition, we put another million dollars into a program called Be Connected, where older Australians who find themselves with technology that may not be able to be used, or they don't have any mobile phone or a computer—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Ruston. Senator Smith, a final supplementary question?

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can the minister advise the Senate how the government is supporting our volunteers, especially our senior volunteers?

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

Senior volunteers make up a very significant proportion of Australian volunteers. We know that, during the COVID pandemic, many of our older Australians have chosen not to continue to volunteer because of health risks or accessibility. That saw a significant decline in the number of people that were volunteering, and we understand the significant impact this makes on our economy. For that reason, we have made sure that we've continued to put measures in place, including awarding 2,698 grants—across a number of areas, across a lot of organisations—of between $1,000 and $5,000 to be able to help them. We'd like to particularly thank Volunteering Australia and acknowledge all of Australia's volunteers and the amazing job that they do. We know that the economic benefits and the yield that all Australians and Australia receive from volunteering is absolutely immense, and we thank them.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order, Senator Ruston.

Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Vice-President of the Executive Council) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.