Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I move opposition amendment (1) on sheet 5094:

(1)    Schedule 1, page 9 (after line 3), after item 14, insert:

14A  After subsection 1118(2A)

Insert:

      (2B)    If:

             (a)    a person sells the person’s principal home; and

             (b)    the person is unable within 12 months to acquire another residence that is to be the person’s principal home; and

             (c)    in the Secretary’s opinion the delay in acquiring another residence that is to be the person’s principal home is because of circumstances beyond the person’s control; and

             (d)    the person is likely, within 24 months, to apply the whole or a part of the proceeds of the sale in acquiring another residence that is to be the person’s principal home;

In moving these amendments I indicate, as I did in my second reading debate contribution, that there is a particular issue that has been raised with me in Western Australia by constituents regarding the current 12-month limit that is placed upon people from when they sell their own home until they acquire a new one if they want to remain eligible for a pension. As I indicated earlier, with the economic buoyancy in Western Australia—and, I believe, in some of the other states—getting a new home completed inside that 12-month period has proved very difficult for a number of people. There are skill shortages and long delays in getting homes completed.

A number of people have come to me raising their concerns about this because they have been brought into the assets test when in fact they are just seeking to move into a new home. Often they are downsizing into something more appropriate, but the delay in finishing the home has meant that they have fallen into assets test problems with the funds that they have reserved to pay for the new home. A number of Commonwealth officers, when confronted with this issue, have been sympathetic to the constituents but have said that they have been unable to do anything because there is no discretion. I seek, in moving this amendment, to provide for the secretary to have that discretion—to provide the flexibility that would allow for people in genuine circumstances to seek to have a discretion exercised for a period of 24 months.

The point is to allow the discretion to be exercised by the secretary or their delegate to deal with those people who have very real problems in complying with the current provisions. I do not think it is a particularly political issue; I think it is about providing a solution for people who are getting caught in an unintended way. I gather the minister has indicated she has some sympathy for the amendment. We have raised with the government previously the need to do something about this. I would hope that the minister, if she has a problem with my amendment, will come back with her own constructive proposal to fix it.