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

I thank Senator Furner for his question and the fact that he is responding so well to his constituents' concerns. I am aware that claims have appeared in the press that have said that the Department of Human Services has been phoning affected parents and referring them to charities. I asked the department about this, and the department has advised me that it is not true. I have directed that officers contact every single person affected by the decision by the government—that is some 84,000 people who are affected by the decision on parenting payment—because I want to make sure that every one of those persons is aware of their rights and their entitlements and to ensure that they are treated properly and fairly, and that is what is going on.

The purpose of those calls was not to push people off onto charities but to ensure that they received every possible support from the government. New payment options are obviously critical in this regard. There is Centrepay, there are new financial information officers available and there is also the option of follow-up consultation with the department's social workers. When all of these options are exhausted, a social worker may also connect the parent to a state or local community support. Our aim is to ensure that no parent is left alone. We want to ensure that parents have no need to resort to these measures. So I am pleased to report today that 99 per cent of the 84,000 people have been contacted, and 69 per cent have been approved for Newstart and 25 per cent have started their Newstart applications and we anticipate another 3,000 will be eligible for carers or disability support. So parents will be applying for other programs such as child-care benefits, job service benefits and tax benefits. (Time expired)