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Thursday, 9 February 2012
Page: 732

Centrelink

(Question No. 1481)

Senator Siewert asked the Minister representing the Minister for Human Services, upon notice, on 28 November 2011:

In regard to Centrelink's 2 hectares rule:

(1) How many Centrelink recipients are affected by the rule.

(2) How many of these recipients are aged pension recipients.

(3) How many rural pensioners have been forced to sell their homes as a result of this rule.

(4) What is the average property size affected by this rule.

Senator Arbib: The Minister for Human Services has provided the following answer to the honourable senator's question:

(1) 11,654 recipients are affected by the rule, as at 9 December 2011.

Those affected are income support payment customers and their partners who:

(i) are paid a part rate income support payment because of the asset test; and

(ii) have the value of land in excess of 2 hectares adjacent to their home counted in their assets.

For Social Security Income Support payments, a person's principal home is generally exempt from the assets test. This exemption can include the land on which the house stands, as long as the land is on a single title and does not exceed two hectares. This is sometimes referred to as the “two hectares rule”. Any additional land, or other real estate assets, will generally be included as an asset.

The exemption for the person's principal home can include more than two hectares, as long as the land is on a single title, where the following criteria are met:

(i) the customer (or their partner) is of age pension age and receives, or qualifies to receive Age Pension, Carer Payment, or Service Pension paid by the Department of Veterans' Affairs;

(ii) the customer has a 20 year continuous attachment to the land as their principal home; and

(iii) they are making “effective use of productive land” to generate income, taking into consideration their capacity to do so.

The definition for “effective use of productive land” includes:

(i) the person or a family member operating a farming business on the land; or

(ii) the person is leasing the land to someone else for a commercial rate of return; or

(iii) the land has limited or no potential for commercial use, e.g. 'lifestyle blocks'.

(2) 10,057 of these recipients are Age Pensioners.

(3) The Department of Human Services does not hold this information.

(4) The Department of Human Services does not hold the information required to determine the average property size affected by this rule.