Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every now and then you hear of a constituent who has been a victim of the system. One such person came to my office very recently, and it caused considerable concern because no matter how hard we tried we could not help her. This lady is 61 years of age and has an elderly mother who has dementia. She cares for her elderly mother, and her husband is in receipt of a pension. This lady was on special benefit until the welfare to work changes went through this parliament recently. Since those changes went through the parliament she has been advised by Centrelink that she can no longer receive the special benefit payment, and now she must apply for Newstart and undertake the activity test. She has not worked since 1959. Her mother requires care 24 hours a day but this lady cannot get the carers payment, because her mother owned a little miner’s cottage at a place in my electorate called Catherine Hill Bay, which is probably one of the most stunning areas in this nation. The houses in that area are selling for pretty close to $1 million. I do not think her house sold for that much, though. The money from the sale is being held by the New South Wales Protective Commissioner. Therefore, this lady cannot access that money in any shape or form for her mother’s care.

We have a situation where a 61-year-old woman is ineligible for the pension, ineligible for special benefit and ineligible for the carers payment but has to care for her mother 24 hours a day. Believe me, it is very hard work. This is a 61-year-old woman who has not worked since 1959 and who can receive no payment whatsoever from the government. This is a woman with very limited financial resources who thought that the least this government could do would be to provide her with some income support, because she is caring for her mother and saving the government money by being prepared to do that. I think it is an absolute disgrace and I call on the government to act immediately to change this anomaly in the legislation. (Time expired)