Mr Murphy asked the Minister for Ageing, upon notice, on 13 February 2002:

Can he guarantee that payments of the $300 one-off bonus announced in the 2001 Budget to eligible residents of aged care facilities were paid directly to, and received separately by, those residents and not the management of the aged care facilities in which they reside; if not, why not.

Mr Andrews (Minister for Ageing) —The answer to the honourable member's question is as follows:

The $300 one-off payment was made to people of age pension age by Centrelink in June 2001. Some of the eligible recipients were residents of Commonwealth funded aged care homes.

Some pensioners arrange with Centrelink for their pension and related payments to be made directly to the aged care home where they live. Centrelink will stop this payment arrangement if the pensioner requests them to do so.