Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is in terms of this provision and further explanation about why we're trying to move this provision. These amendments to schedule 6 are provisions for women who are over the age pension age, who would have been eligible for the widow allowance if it continued to be open for recipients after 1 January 2018, who are ineligible for Newstart due to their age and ineligible for the age pension due to the residency requirements. We're putting in provisions whereby they would automatically then go onto a special benefit payment with the same means test as the current widow allowance so that their cohort is not worse off than they would otherwise have been. That's why we are seeking to ameliorate some of the provisions of the creation of the jobseeker payment, which rolls a whole lot of allowances into the jobseeker payment. That's the reason for this particular amendment.