Mr TRUSS (Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) (9:31 AM) —I move:

That the bill be now read a second time.

This bill gives effect to a number of measures from the 1997-98 and 1998-99 budgets and the `Staying at home' package announced on 2 April 1998 that aim to improve assistance to carers of those with a disability and the elderly.

As part of its 1997-98 budget, the government announced that it would extend carer payment to a new category of people. The new category will be people who are caring for an adult with a level of disability that is not sufficient to qualify their carer for income support. From 1 July 1999, carer payment will be payable to that carer if the adult, because of his or her disability, is unable to look after his or her own child or has a child with a disability for whom he or she is unable to care because of the child's disability, and, as a result, the carer is also looking after the child. The aim is to provide help for people who are not caring full time only for the adult with a disability, but are in fact engaged in full-time care because they are required to look after the child as well.

In the `Staying at home' package, the government reinforced its commitment to carers by announcing that it would introduce a simpler and more consistent system of income supplements for carers. This initiative involves the introduction of a new payment called carer allowance, which will be available to carers from July 1999.

Carer allowance brings together two payments—child disability allowance and domiciliary nursing care benefit—to provide a single income supplement for carers of adults and children. The qualification rules for carer allowance will mean that it will be more easily available to carers of adults with disabilities than is presently the case for domiciliary nursing care benefit. Carers will be able to claim carer allowance from any Centrelink office. It is expected that 14,000 carers of adult relatives will qualify for assistance for the first time.

The government announced in the 1998-99 budget that it will expand the scope of carer payment and carer allowance to increase assistance that is available to carers. Where the person for whom a carer is caring is hospitalised and the carer is involved in the person's treatment plan, the carer will now be able to claim and receive carer allowance. Previously, carers could not claim child disability allowance, domiciliary nursing care benefit or carer payment when the person they were caring for was hospitalised. From 1 July 1999, in cases where the person cared for has a terminal illness or is expected to return home after hospital treatment, the carer will continue to qualify for carer payment or carer allowance for a period of hospitalisation for up to 63 days in a calendar year.

The current assessment of an adult's disability for the payment of domiciliary nursing care benefit has been criticised as being subjective and unduly restrictive. As part of its `Staying at home' package, the government announced that, from 1 July 1999, it would introduce a simpler and more objective assessment mechanism, the Adult Disability Assessment Tool. It will be much easier for many carers to qualify for carer allowance, particularly those caring for people with intellectual, psychiatric and neurological disabilities. Fewer medical assessments will be needed for recipients with severe and permanent disabilities. The Adult Disability Assessment Tool will also be used to decide qualification for an existing social security payment, the carer payment. I commend the bill to the House and present the explanatory memorandum.

Debate (on motion by Mr McClelland) adjourned.