Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

That's right. Thank you, Senator Cash: support our changes to welfare. Now, the Turnbull government is committed to ensuring that Australia's welfare system is well targeted to support Australians in need. The 2017-18 budget reinforces the residency based nature of Australia's pension system by increasing the resident requirement to qualify the age pension and disability support pension. Currently, to qualify for the Australian age pension or DSP, a person must be an Australian resident for a total of 10 years, with at least five of those years being continuous at any age. There is no requirement for the 10 years to be during a person's working lifetime—16 years of age to age-pension age. From 1 July 2018, to qualify for age pension or DSP, a person will be required to have 10 years continuous—

Senator O'Neill interjecting—

Senator O'Neill, if you listened you might learn something, so stop interrupting. So 10 years continuous Australian residence, with either five years of that residence during their working life or greater than five cumulative years residence not in receipt of an active test income support payment. (Time expired)