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

I thank Senator Brockman for his question and interest in this important subject. It's a very good question, Senator Brockman, because in this year's budget the Turnbull government announced $258.6 million in initiatives to support the incomes of those in retirement. This includes new means test rules for pooled lifetime retirement income stream products as well as an increase in and extension of the pension work bonus and an expansion of the Pension Loans Scheme.

Senator Brockman asked me about more choice, and I'd particularly like to focus on the pension work bonus. This is an important measure which will deliver older Australians more choice in their retirement. With this change, the coalition is improving the pension work bonus by increasing the work bonus by $50 a fortnight to $300 a fortnight. This means that the first $300 of employment income each fortnight will not be counted in the pension income test and it means that eligible pensioners will get more benefit from working.

The current pension work bonus was set at $250 per fortnight when it was introduced in 2011 and has not been increased since. I'm advised that, under this measure, about 88,750 social security pensioners and 1,000 allowance recipients will receive an increase in their payments from 1 July 2019 and about 1,150 people will become eligible for the social security pension for the first time. Around 3,000 Veterans' Affairs pensioners will also benefit.

But it's not only older Australians who benefit by their participation in the workforce, as the Council on the Ageing noted— (Time expired)