Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I do not intend to detain the House long at all on this bill because the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Improved Support for Carers) (Consequential and Transitional) Bill 2009 is about as uncontroversial as a piece of legislation can be. That does not necessarily mean that there will not be any contention in the House, but I am fairly confident that the contention will be over other aspects of social security policy, not about the particular provisions of this bill. Essentially what this bill does is change the criterion for carers to go on the carer payment from one determined by medical classification to one determined by the actual level of care provided. As well, it changes the terminology of disability to something more appropriate and more sensitive to the modern ear. It is essentially housekeeping. It will benefit many thousands of people over time, as the costings reflect. The opposition support this bill and we commend it to the House.

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