Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the last several years, Australia has witnessed a number of momentous and devastating natural disasters. Local communities in every state and territory have faced physical, emotional and financial struggles in the aftermath of these disasters, with the pressures themselves exacerbated by a government that all too often focuses on its own political agenda in complete disregard of disaster resilience investment. The coalition understands the importance of ensuring disaster assistance not only reaches those individuals and communities affected by disaster for clean-up and recovery purposes but also reaches workers, employees, employers, small businesses and farmers who have lost income as a result of the devastating event.

Whilst constitutional responsibility for disaster prevention, preparedness, response and recovery is primarily vested with the states and territories, the significant detrimental effect large-scale disasters have on communities, households and individuals often calls for the provision of further assistance from the Commonwealth government. The coalition does not take disaster assistance mitigation or resilience measures likely. We will help small businesses get back on their feet more quickly after a natural disaster by providing the additional support they need.

The Social Security Legislation Amendment (Disaster Recovery Allowance) Bill 2013 will establish a new payment, the disaster recovery allowance, by replacing the current disaster income recovery subsidy. The bill amends the Social Security Act 1991, the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 and the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 to implement the assistance. The disaster recovery allowance consists of a short-term fortnightly income support payment for an individual whose income has been affected by a major disaster whether natural or otherwise. If passed, the measure will come into effect on 1 October this year.

The disaster recovery assistance package seeks to formulate the payment of ongoing assistance following a major disaster, which has until now been done by way of ex gratia payments and is separate from the Australian government disaster recovery payment. It is intended that either or both disaster recovery assistance and the Australian government disaster recovery payment could be activated in the event of a disaster, depending on the nature and effect of the particular event. The disaster recovery assistance is payable for a period of 13 weeks. If a person is still in need of income support after this date, they will need to qualify for another payment such as special benefit or Newstart allowance.

At this point, I would like to note the coalition's plan for small business emergency assistance. The coalition's plan recognises that small business, with the local community, plays an essential role in the recovery from natural disasters. There are three crucial aspects to our plan. Under our plan, a small business that has not experienced physical damage as a result of a natural disaster but still suffers a loss of income as a consequence will be eligible for a loan up to $100,000. Eligible businesses will be able to pay back these low-interest loans over a period of up to seven years at an interest rate of four per cent, consistent with the existing commonly used guidelines.

The second aspect of this plan is that the coalition will provide a GST and pay-as-you-go tax holiday to small businesses in disaster affected areas. Under current arrangements, small businesses are required to provide quarterly business activity statements by set dates each year. Instead, these businesses should have the option of a three-month extension for filling their business activity statements and not be required to remit their GST and pay-as-you-go payments until that time.

The third aspect of this plan is that a coalition government will waive, for a period of six months, any penalty interest for disaster affected small businesses failing to estimate their pay-as-you-go obligation accurately. This plan will help to stop viable and profitable businesses going bankrupt and keep local people employed. These are practical steps to assist disaster affected areas get back on their feet. We certainly look forward to having the opportunity to implement that plan to help small business if we do win the forthcoming election this year.

I am about to conclude my contribution, which makes me think that the Labor Party might want to get a speaker in here at some stage in the not-too-distant future. This particular bill is worthy of our support and it receives it. We look forward to being able to enhance disaster recovery assistance, in particular for small business, should we get a chance to form the next government after the election.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Disaster Recovery Allowance) Bill 2013. I thank the member for Stirling for his contribution and also the opposition for the bipartisan support for this piece of legislation. As a Queenslander, I say that it is important that there be bipartisan support.

My electorate of Moreton was particularly heavily hit in the 2011 floods. I saw the damage that occurred. Literally, the water was at the end of my street. I had over 5,200 properties affected. Many small businesses in my electorate were affected back in 2010. In fact, I have 19,000 small businesses and arguably all of them suffered economic loss, so that is a $1.9 billion commitment that the member for Stirling has just made for the future if there were a similar disaster. Remember, the water in the 2011 floods in my electorate was one metre lower than the 1974 floods.

The member for Stirling has introduced this new financial commitment where businesses that suffer economic loss can access up to $100,000 in loans locked in at four per cent. Obviously that is a significant financial commitment and I look forward to the Leader of the Opposition detailing tomorrow night the offsets for such a financial commitment.

The reality is Queensland is one of the states that are more prone to disasters, particularly when you get above the Tropic of Capricorn. We had that double whammy 2½ years back: there were floods in Toowoomba, the Lockyer Valley, Brisbane and other areas—my home town of St George, Emerald and many others were hit by floods—and then we had Cyclone Yasi as well, a category 5 cyclone that crossed over the coast near Tully and Mission Beach. It ripped through North Queensland leaving significant economic damage. If you have your entire banana crop wiped out, $100,000 will not be the compensation; it will not set you up for that. Nevertheless, I will be interested to see what happens tomorrow night when the Leader of the Opposition does respond.

The Social Security Legislation Amendment (Disaster Recovery Allowance) Bill 2013 is a piece of legislation that has bipartisan support for a number of reasons. The purpose is to create a new income support payment for individuals affected by major disaster. It is certainly a very Australian response and I note the member for Mallee, who would have had people go through his—

Mr Forrest interjecting—

I remember, I think we went to your electorate when we were looking at insurance problems that flowed after these disasters. He well knows the problem with too much water coming down the river, or no water coming down the river if it is a drought. We need to get these disasters right. We are a sunburnt country, a land of floods and too many droughts. The problem with Australia is we do have a range. It is hard to get insurance right and it is hard to get the compensation right. But a good government that makes decisions in the national interest looks at the payments that are available to people after a major disaster, and that is what we have done. I did indicate the support of the opposition for this.

At the moment there are two types of payments. The first is the lump sum payment known as the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment. I particularly commend Centrelink for the great work they did in my electorate after the floods. They were on the ground, basically, with mud on their feet, making sure that people had money. They learnt a horrible lesson from the Victorian bushfires when they realised that some of the identity safeguards mean nothing if your house has been washed away or burnt to the ground. The Centrelink personnel did a great job. There will always be the odd crook, but I do not think we should respond to natural disasters by treating everyone as a crook.

The second response is by way of ex gratia payments made on an ad hoc basis to those requiring ongoing assistance following major disasters. The new income support payment, the disaster recovery allowance, the DRA, will formalise the payment of ongoing assistance following major disasters, which have until now been by way of ex gratia payments, and is separate from the AGDRP. It is intended that either or both the DRA and the AGDRP could be activated in the event of a disaster, depending on the nature and effect of the particular disaster.

It is a piece of legislation that is supported by both sides or the chamber. I see the member for Blair, the parliamentary secretary, here in the chamber. His electorate was particularly hard hit. He was on the same committee as me. It looked at insurance response after disasters, so we have been all around the nation looking at how people were treated, insurance-wise, but we also incidentally received evidence on the various government responses. This is long overdue and I commend the legislation to the House.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Health and Ageing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable members for their contributions to the debate on the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Disaster Recovery Allowance) Bill 2013. I particularly thank the member for Moreton. He was the chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs. It looked at the response of the insurance industry and other organisations to natural disasters around the country. We went around and looked at floods in Western Australia, cyclones in North Queensland, floods in Victoria and bushfires in Western Australian in relation to this. We went all round the country.

This is important legislation. The member for Moreton and I have seen the benefit of financial assistance that the federal government provides for disaster management—not just to councils but also for income support. Passing this Social Security Legislation Amendment (Disaster Recovery Allowance) Bill 2013 will ensure that there is legislative backing—support—available to individuals whose incomes are temporarily affected by disasters over the coming seasons, whether they be fire, cyclone or flood.

The disaster recovery allowance, the DRA, will replace the ex gratia Disaster Income Recovery Subsidy, known as the DIRS. Australia is a disaster-prone country, vulnerable to bushfires. We have had disasters in South East Queensland and about 17 major floods in the Brisbane-Ipswich area since 1840. The ex gratia Disaster Income Recovery Subsidy has been highly successful and provides valuable support to employees, business owners and farmers whose livelihoods are threatened by disaster. This summer alone, the Disaster Income Recovery Subsidy was activated across 35 local government areas in response to four natural disaster events.

The federal Labor government is committed to protecting the jobs and businesses of Australians and to the recovery of communities that have been impacted by natural disasters. No Australian should lose their income or be forced to permanently close their business because of bushfire, flood or cyclone. Legislating the DRA will greatly improve the quality of disaster assistance that the Australian government is able to provide. It will ensure more efficient and responsible governance and economic management of the Australian government disaster recovery. It will ensure consistency, with clear eligibility criteria and activation processes. It will allow for review processes to be applied to other social security payments that are not currently available for an ex gratia payment. It will also allow for fraud- and debt-recovery processes in the Social Security Act to apply to those very few who try to take advantage of this sort of assistance. Passing this bill will ensure support is delivered to disaster victims quickly and effectively.

Natural disasters are devastating, unpredictable and inevitable. The full impact of any disaster is not felt straightaway, particularly the economic impacts, and recovery is a very complex process. Disaster assistance provides support to where it is instrumental to community recovery. The federal Labor government consistently tries to improve the disaster recovery assistance it provides.

This bill represents a very significant step to improving support to communities affected by disasters. The DRA will ensure that people whose income has been hit by a disaster will not need to worry about putting food on the table or whether they will be forced to end their hard-built small business. The DRA will assist not only individuals but also entire communities in getting back on their feet and putting their lives back together. By debating and voting on this legislation now we ensure that all preparatory work done by the Attorney-General's Department federally and the Department of Human Services is completed in time for the 2013-14 summer and that the payment is ready for when Australians will need it most.

I take this opportunity to thank the Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer, the member for Lilley; the Minister for Human Services, Senator Jan McLucas; the Minister for Families, Community Services, Indigenous Affairs, the Hon. Jenny Macklin MP; and their departments for their invaluable assistance in the preparation of this bill. I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.

Ordered that this bill be reported to the House without amendment.