Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Polley for the supplementary question. It does bring us to what the government is also doing in this area. In light of recent declines in the value of shares and managed investments, the government has also instructed Centrelink to undertake a system-wide re-evaluation of all shares and other financial assets held by pensioners, to ensure that the new value of their holdings is used to determine the rate of pensions they receive. The re-evaluation took place on the weekend of 1 and 2 November, and pension payments were affected from 3 November. Market data from mid-October has been used to update these assessment values. It ensures that pensions take into account recent market fluctuations. The process has updated the records of more than 840,000 customers who receive a pension from Centrelink, most of whom are age pensioners. The Australian government has taken action to ease the financial pressure on pensioners whose investments have taken a hit from the global— (Time expired)