Parliamentary Questions

(1) What is the Western Australian government doing to prepare for the potential introduction of the commonwealth government’s income management legislation?

(2) What is the state government’s position on the proposed new income management system?

Hon ROBYN McSWEENEY replied:

I thank the honourable member for some notice of the question.

(1) The Australian government’s proposed new model of income management will occur only in the Northern Territory at this stage. The commonwealth government has not approached me or the Western Australian government about any proposed changes it may have or any new model that it will introduce. The legislative amendments to the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Welfare Reform and Reinstatement of Racial Discrimination Act) Bill 2009 could enable the commonwealth government to introduce such a scheme in WA in the future. I have been proactive and I have written to Jenny Macklin asking that income management, as we know it in Western Australia—it is unique to Western Australia—remain in Western Australia and that there not be any other form of income management over the top of it.

In WA, income management as a child protection measure is used to address child neglect and is different from and separate to the Northern Territory model. The WA model will continue in its current form and will not be affected by the proposed new legislation. I will explain that further in a minute. Under the proposed new legislation, individuals who are subject to the WA income management for child protection model could also receive a matched savings payment of up to $500 for a person on income management if they can demonstrate the completion of an approved money management course and a personal savings pattern. This payment can only be claimed once and is 100 per cent income managed. Those individuals could also receive an incentive payment of $250 for a person who has been on voluntary income management for a continuous period of six months.

The fact sheet put out by the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs states that the commonwealth legislation will commence from July 2010 and will initially cover the whole of the Northern Territory. It says that future implementation elsewhere in Australia will be informed by the evidence gained from this evaluation of that Northern Territory model. Who knows if it is going to come in over the top of Western Australia? I hope not. I will do my level best to keep the neglect trigger.

Under the new model, disengaged youth aged from 15 to 24 years who have been in receipt of one of the following trigger payments for at least 13 out of 26 weeks—that is, the youth allowance, Newstart allowance, special benefit or parenting payment—are covered. Long-term welfare recipients aged 25 and above and younger than age pension age who have been in receipt of one of the following trigger payments for at least 52 out of the past 104 weeks on the youth allowance, Newstart allowance, special benefit or parenting payment, and people subject to income management under the disengaged youth and long-term welfare recipient categories will be able to seek exemptions from Centrelink. If they are referred by the child protection authorities, which is what we have, and are vulnerable welfare payment recipients as assessed by a Centrelink social worker, like we have, they will not be eligible for exemption pathways, despite having access to ongoing reviews and appeal rights. Individuals referred by child protection authorities and Centrelink social workers will be subject to income management if they are in receipt of the youth allowance, Newstart allowance or parenting payment. As I said, the federal government has not engaged me in any conversation on the income management that it wants to put forward. If it does want to introduce it around Australia, the devil is in the detail and I will be watching very closely.