Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Siewert for her question. I am not aware of any modelling that the government has undertaken and nor, I would expect, should I be. The policy intent, as I explained in the interviews undertaken last week, is clearly designed to encourage people to participate more in the workforce, which is the major impact for people in lifting their living standards. The question I was addressing in those discussions was the fact that the Department of Human Services is seeking to contact 84,000 people who are affected by the budget decision. We are seeking to contact them on a personal basis, because I was very concerned to ensure that each and every person who was so affected was able to get personal advice on their entitlements and what opportunities there were in terms of the current range of benefits.

To date, I can indicate to you, 74,000 parents have been contacted and 49,000 of those people have had interviews. The vast majority of those 49,000 have moved to Newstart. In the process of that there are opportunities for people to move to other benefits. While there may well be up to 10,000 people who, on current advice, have an income above the threshold for the Newstart allowance, about 5,000 of those are still eligible for various part payments. My concern was to ensure that every single person who was affected by this decision got the best access to the best advice we were able to provide, and that is the process being undertaken right now—no matter where they live or how remote they are, those people have access to the very best services. (Time expired)