Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

That is true, as the member for Kennedy says. In that respect I fully understand what he means, but I guess maybe the flip side of that is that she is so keen on some of those who sit opposite. The legislation before the House is an omnibus bill which makes a number of changes to legislation within the social security portfolio. There are changes to the age pension and veterans entitlements assets test which will allow people of pension age who live on certain kinds of farms and rural residential properties to exempt the value of land on the same title as their primary residence from the pension assets test. Currently only the primary residence and an area of up to two hectares around it is exempt. This will give approximately 10,000 people of age pension age more access to age pension payments. There are changes to family assistance, social security administration and student assistance legislation to provide search and seizure powers for authorised officers to investigate and prosecute offences in relation to programs administered under these acts. There are also changes to existing provisions relating to crisis payments to establish a new ground upon which crisis payment can be received. And there is a series of miscellaneous changes to aged care and child support legislation to allow for information exchange between social security agencies to improve compliance.

In particular from Labor’s point of view I support the budget measures contained in the bill which will make changes to the assets test for people of pension age living in rural and regional areas and implement changes to crisis payment provisions. We do have some concerns, which the member for Sydney mentioned earlier today, with respect to some of these seizure powers, but I understand they will be looked at at the Senate committee level and I look forward to hearing the results of that consideration. We also support the proposals to improve information exchange between the agencies as long as appropriate checks and balances are in place.

As the shadow minister for veterans’ affairs I want to speak today specifically and briefly on the aspects of the bill that relate to the veterans community. I personally welcome some of the initiatives contained within this bill and recognise that they are positive steps. While these amendments will not affect a large number of veterans, those that the changes do apply to will readily welcome them. Labor believes in a veterans’ income system that is secure, stable, simple and fair. In particular, we remain strongly committed to the service pension system, which guarantees a decent income to qualifying veterans. We recognise that there are problems in the existing system, in particular under the existing assets test, which disadvantage veterans in receipt of the service pension or potential pension recipients who are living on the land.

Under the existing assets test, some veterans living on farms or large rural residential blocks find they are unable to support themselves because the value of the property their home is on excludes them from the pension. Some of these veterans are forced to sell their land and their family homes. Labor believes that veterans should not have to sell their family homes—where they have spent the best part of their lives—in order to support themselves. Accordingly, we support the government’s changes to the assets test which will exempt all property on the same title as the primary residence from the assets test where there is a long-term attachment to that land and where it would be unreasonable to realise the value of the land by selling or leasing it.

Recently at the RSL national congress in Perth this issue was raised with my office by a veterans advocate. They outlined the problems that one of their veterans back in South Australia was having with obtaining the service pension due to their farm. The farm and property were too big to meet any of the assets tests, yet they were too small to provide any form of income. This particular veteran was facing an extremely hard decision about whether or not they would have to sell their house that they had been in for decades. It is for these reasons that I welcome these changes. I can think of nothing worse than the government expecting people who have served this country overseas in conflict to have to sell their homes to support themselves.

We believe these measures are reasonable. However, we also believe there is more that the government could be doing to address disadvantages faced by veterans who are attempting to access the service pension as an entitlement. I have some concerns about the time it takes for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to resolve different claims and about some of the methods used in investigating these claims. I do know that the claims process can be extraordinarily complex. I know that the department is always working hard to make the claims process easier, and I fully support their efforts in doing this.

The bill also proposes a series of changes to enhance information sharing between agencies in order to improve compliance with social security law. With respect to these changes, I would just like to note that Centrelink is currently not required to inform people when their carer payment is about to be cut off. We believe that it should be required to do so. The health of many veterans is often maintained to a substantial degree by their partners in their role as carers. There are 2.5 million carers in Australia who look after family members or friends with a disability, mental illness or chronic condition or who are frail aged. Carers make a great contribution to our society, by caring for their loved ones who may otherwise be taken out of the community, and to the economy more broadly. It is estimated that carers save the Australian economy approximately $20 billion annually by providing unpaid work.

Carers clearly contribute a great deal to the wellbeing of our veterans and to those in the broader community who may require assistance in their daily lives. They deserve our thanks and a heavy dose of respect. One way we can give this here is by improving communication mechanisms between relevant agencies and carers. Carers lead a very full and stressful life, and the last thing they should be expected to do is struggle with a large bureaucracy that has failed to communicate with them adequately with regard to their payments.

Labor support most of the measures contained in the bill as they relate to veterans. We support making the service pension assets test fairer for veterans living on farms and large rural residential properties. We do call for greater communication between Centrelink and carers with regard to changes in their payments. We also note that much more can be done to make it easier for qualifying veterans to access their service pension. As I said, the opposition support the main aspects of the bill and we wait to see what results from the Senate committee process. I wish the legislation a speedy movement to the other place.

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