Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

Medicare Australia, the Child Support Agency and Centrelink engage with literally millions of Australians every year, and the importance of the work of bodies like the Australian National Audit Office in making absolutely sure that everything possible is done to have those agencies engage effectively with the public should be noted. I have to say that I have not received many representations over the years with regard to problems people have had in dealing with Medicare, although I have had a couple. As with many of us, I imagine, I have had plenty regarding the Child Support Agency and plenty regarding Centrelink.

I would note with regard to the Child Support Agency that there has been a lot of work done in examining the way that body operates and the laws under which it operates. I will not touch on the separate issue of the Family Court and some of the changes that are proposed there, but it is worth noting the changes that have been flagged to the way child support payments have been calculated and the laws surrounding that. That has been in the wind for quite a long period of time. There are, of course, differing views in this area. It is contentious and difficult, but I do think that, for those many Australians who are subjected in various ways to the activities and determinations of the Child Support Agency, this process of re-examining the formulas used to calculate payments has gone on for a long time.

There was commentary in the last few days that perhaps it will not be possible to bring forward legislation proposing changes to those arrangements for quite some period of time yet—possibly not even in this term of government—because of the complexities that would be involved in the operations of the agency itself; that is, its computer programs, forms and all those sorts of things. I do not think that is acceptable. This audit report goes to issues such as the forms for individual service delivery and it touches on the performance of the Child Support Agency in that area. I appreciate that these things do take a bit of time. If you are responding to reports and to changes in legislation and preparing for changes in legislation, all of those little things have to be done well. The forms, the computer programs, the information and the training of staff have to be done well because, as I said, there are many complaints made about the Child Support Agency, as we all know.

You cannot get rid of all of those complaints, because this is the sort of area of activity where there will always be unhappy people, but we have to at least make sure that the basic performance of the agency’s work and the way they carry out their task is to the highest possible standard so as to minimise any of the extra difficulties experienced by many people who are already in a situation in their lives that they are finding very stressful—on all sides of the sometimes fairly unpleasant divides that occur for different people who have the Child Support Agency in their lives.

Despite all of that, for there to be a suggestion or any inkling that somehow we need to go past the next election—which is not going to be for another 18 months at least—is simply not acceptable. I am not saying that I am endorsing the changes that are proposed, because it has not even been fully detailed yet as to what they would be—although there have been recommendations flagged from various reports. What I am saying is that, if changes are going to be made, do not keep dangling them there; do not keep everybody—whether it is people paying money to the agency or people receiving money from the agency—dangling, wondering what is going to happen and leave it drift on for years and years. I do not think that is acceptable or appropriate in any area, but particularly in this sort of area.

There is no doubt that there are problems with the way the formulas are used for calculating some of the payments of the Child Support Agency. It is the sort of thing that you can never get precisely right. That is inevitably going to be a problem, and I do not think any of us should pretend otherwise—that we will make everybody happy in this area. But, clearly, there are changes that need to be made. I certainly do not in any way suggest that I will support all the changes that are going to be put forward, but I do believe that they need to be put forward. Parliament needs to get on with looking at them. We need to see some concrete, specific proposals from the government and we need to give the agency enough time to adjust its forms, its computer programs, its staff training or anything else and inform all of the people who are affected. Just letting it drift for months and years is not acceptable. It is important for the government to take up that message and keep some momentum going in this area. I certainly do not say that we should rush changes in this very difficult area, but to let it drift forever is not acceptable.

Question agreed to.