Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, in writing, on 24 May 2011:

In respect of Table J-5 (Appendix J) in her department's 2009-10 Annual Report which indicates that in 2008-09, six families with incomes over $1,000,000 received Family Tax Benefit A, and three families with incomes over $1,000,000 received Family Tax Benefit B, what criteria were used to assess the eligibility of these families for such payments.

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The answer to the honourable member's question is as follows:

The criteria used to assess Family Tax Benefit eligibility for those families with more than $1,000,000 in annual income was the same as that used for all other eligible families, as outlined in the Family Assistance Act 1999.

Key factors taken into consideration when assessing eligibility to Family Tax Benefit include family income throughout the financial year, changing circumstances such as a new birth, separation or partnership, receipt of income support payment, child age and the residential status of the claimant.

As stated in the explanatory notes for Table J-5 in my Department's 2009-10 Annual Report, there are a number of reasons families with high incomes can receive payment.

These include customers receiving income support for part of the year and earning higher incomes for the remainder of that year, customers whose partnership status changes during the year and whose new partner's income is high enough to preclude payment for the remainder of the year, Disability Support or Age Pension recipients who are legally blind and not required to declare their income or assets and customers who were eligible for a minimum rate of Family Tax Benefit for a specified Carer Allowance or Double Orphan Pension child.

The six families with income over $1,000,000 who received Family Tax Benefit A and the three families with income over $1,000,000 who received Family Tax Benefit B all fall into one or more of the above categories.