Sweeping social security changes introduced to parliament
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Version 0 of 1. Sweeping changes to Australia’s social security system, including reviewing people on the disability support pension (DSP) and taking young people off income support for months at a time, have been introduced to parliament. Split between two bills, the welfare measures, which were first announced in the budget, were introduced to the House of Representatives on Wednesday morning. Social services and other legislation amendment (2014 budget measures no 1) bill 2014 scraps the senior supplement, worth about $800 a year to senior people who do not qualify for the pension but have a Healthcare card, freezes indexation of Family Tax Benefits for three years, reviews whether particular people should be on the DSP and makes changes to income eligibility and rates of family tax benefits. The second bill scraps the DSP for people who travel overseas for more than four weeks without government permission, creates the Young Carer Bursary Program, changes eligibility for the Seniors Health Card, makes changes to Relocation Scholarships, abolishes the pensioner education supplement, changes the age when people are eligible for the dole to 25 and takes people younger than 30 off Newstart or Austudy for six months at a time if they are not enrolled in an education course. Changes to Family Tax Benefit B, which will see single parents stripped of the payment when their child turns 6 instead of 18, the introduction of single parent supplement worth $750 a year, increase to pension age to 70 and changes to the veteran’s disability pension are also in the bills. The social services minister, Kevin Andrews, introduced the bills, sticking to the government’s economic message since the budget. “It’s aimed at increasing everyone’s ability to contribute to the economy. Everyone who can contribute, should contribute. The government will continue to provide assistance for families, seniors, carers, those with disabilities and most in need,” he said. Andrews said the population was ageing and welfare spending was growing faster than the economy. “We want government assistance to be targeted towards supporting the most vulnerable Australians while encouraging those able to work or study to do so,” he said. |