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2004 - 2005
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Veterans' Entitlements Amendment
(2005 Budget Measure)
Bill 2005
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Veterans' Affairs,
The Honourable De-Anne Kelly MP)
Veterans' Entitlements Amendment (2005 Budget Measure) Bill 2005
Table of Contents
Outline and Financial Impact ............................................................. ii
Part 1 - Preliminary
1 Short Title .......................................................................................... iii
2 Commencement ................................................................................. iii
3 Schedule(s) ........................................................................................ iii
Schedule 1 - Seniors concession allowance .......................................... 1
Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 ........................................ 1
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Veterans' Entitlements Amendment (2005 Budget Measure) Bill 2005
OUTLINE AND FINANCIAL IMPACT
Outline This Bill will amend the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA) to give
effect to the 2005 Budget measure to extend eligibility for the seniors
concession allowance to persons who are Gold Card holders, over veteran
pension age, and who are not otherwise eligible for the seniors concession
allowance or the utilities allowance.
Date of Effect From Royal Assent.
Financial 2004-05 $0.2 m
Impact 2005-06 $9.8 m
2006-07 $8.9 m
2007-08 $8.9 m
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Veterans' Entitlements Amendment (2005 Budget Measure) Bill 2005
Part 1 - Preliminary
Short Title Clause 1 sets out how the Act is to be cited.
Commencement Clause 2 provides a table that sets out the commencement dates of the various
sections in, and Schedules to, the Act.
Schedules Clause 3 provides that the Act specified in a Schedule to this Act is amended
or repealed as set out in the items of that Schedule.
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Veterans' Entitlements Amendment (2005 Budget Measure) Bill 2005
Schedule 1 - Seniors concession allowance
Overview This Bill will amend the VEA to give effect to the 2005 Budget measure to
extend eligibility for the seniors concession allowance to persons who are
Gold Card holders, over veteran pension age, and who are not otherwise
eligible for the seniors concession allowance or the utilities allowance.
Background The seniors concession allowance was introduced in December 2004 and is
intended to assist self-funded retirees with energy, rates, water, sewerage and
motor vehicle registration expenses. The seniors concession allowance
recognises that self-funded retirees may not receive State and Territory
concessions for these items. The seniors concession allowance is paid in
two instalments each year, in June and December. To receive an instalment,
a person must be eligible on the seniors concession allowance test day (1
June and 1 December each year). Initially, eligibility for the seniors
concession allowance was restricted to persons with a Commonwealth
Seniors Health Card (CSHC). Seniors concession allowance is also available
under the social security law to persons with a CSHC issued by Centrelink.
The utilities allowance, introduced in the Family and Community Services
and Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendments (2004 Election
Commitments) Act 2004 along with the seniors concession allowance,
commenced in March 2005. The utilities allowance is intended to assist
those on income support with the payment of regular household bills, such
as gas and electricity. To be eligible for the utilities allowance under the
VEA, a person must be receiving a service pension or income support
supplement and be over veteran pension age. The utilities allowance is paid
in two instalments in March and September each year. Utilities allowance is
also available under the social security law to persons who are over age
pension age and receiving a social security income support payment.
A person is not able to receive more than 2 instalments per year of any
combination of seniors concession allowance or utilities allowance paid
under either the VEA or social security law.
Gold Card is the commonly used term for the "Repatriation Health Card -
For All Conditions". Persons who hold a Gold Card are entitled to
treatment, under the VEA, in accordance with the Treatment Principles
prepared under section 90 of the VEA, or under the Military Rehabilitation
and Compensation Act 2004 (MRCA), in accordance with a determination
made under section 286 of the MRCA, for any injury suffered, or disease
contracted.
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Veterans' Entitlements Amendment (2005 Budget Measure) Bill 2005
Background Veteran pension age is 60 for men and, currently, is 57.5 for women. The
(Cont.) veteran pension age for women is being raised by six months every two years
so that by July 2013, the veteran pension age for both men and women will
be 60.
Explanation of the Changes
These amendments to the VEA will extend eligibility for the seniors
concession allowance to persons who are Gold Card holders, over veteran
pension age, and who are not otherwise eligible for the seniors concession
allowance or the utilities allowance.
Thus, a Gold Card holder, of veteran pension age, who is receiving an
income support payment under the VEA, and is therefore eligible for utilities
allowance, is not eligible for the seniors concession allowance under these
new provisions. However, a Gold Card holder, between veteran pension age
and age pension age, who is receiving an income support payment under the
social security law, and is ineligible for utilities allowance under the social
security law, is eligible for seniors concession allowance under these new
provisions. In addition, a person of veteran pension age, who has a Gold
Card and a CSHC, will not be able to receive 2 instalments of seniors
concession allowance for the one test day. Furthermore, a person who has a
Gold Card and is eligible for the utilities allowance, cannot elect to not
receive the utilities allowance instalment and instead receive an instalment of
seniors concession allowance.
The first payment of seniors concession allowance to eligible Gold Card
holders under this extension will occur in relation to the test day of
1 December 2005.
Explanation of the Items
Item 1 This item makes a minor technical amendment and establishes the
previously sole clause of the provision as subsection (1) of the provision.
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Veterans' Entitlements Amendment (2005 Budget Measure) Bill 2005
Item 2 Item 2 makes a minor technical amendment to subparagraph 118PA(b)(iii) to
enable additional paragraphs to be added to the provision.
Item 3 Item 3 adds two new paragraphs to subsection 118PA(1). New paragraph
118PA(1)(c) provides that a person is eligible for the seniors concession
allowance if the person meets the eligibility criteria established in new
subsection 118PA(2) and the person is in Australia.
New paragraph 118PA(1)(d) provides that a person is eligible for the seniors
concession allowance if the person met the eligibility criteria established in
new subsection 118PA(2) immediately before leaving Australia, and the
person is temporarily absent from Australia and that person's continuous
absence from Australia does not exceed 13 weeks.
Item 4 Item 4 inserts two new subsections after subsection 118PA(1).
New subsection 118PA(2) provides that a person is eligible for the seniors
concession allowance if:
the person is the holder of a Gold Card; and
the person has reached qualifying age; and
the person is not eligible for the seniors concession allowance under
paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection 118PA(1); and
the person is not qualified for seniors concession allowance under the
Social Security Act 1991 (the Social Security Act); and
the person is not eligible for utilities allowance under the VEA; and
the person is not qualified for utilities allowance under the Social
Security Act.
For the purposes of this section, "qualifying age" has the same meaning as it
does in section 118OA of the VEA and provides that a person, whether a
veteran or a non-veteran, may be eligible for the SCA at veteran pension age.
New subsection 118PA(3) provides a definition for gold card. For the
purposes of section 118PA, gold card means a Repatriation Health Card -
For All Conditions, that evidences a person's eligibility under this Act or the
Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004, to be provided with
treatment for any injury suffered or disease contracted.
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Veterans' Entitlements Amendment (2005 Budget Measure) Bill 2005
Commencement Subclause 2(1) provides that item 1 of Schedule 1 commences on Royal
Assent and items 2 to 4 of Schedule 1 commence immediately after item 1 of
Schedule 1.
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