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2002
VETERANS’ AFFAIRS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT BILL (No.
2) 2002
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Veterans’
Affairs,
The Honourable Danna Vale MP)
3 Schedule(s)............................................................ vi
Schedule
1 – Amendment of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act
1986
Part 1 - Amendments concerning double counting
1
Part 2 - Amendments concerning lump sum
compensation
payments 4
Part 3 - Amendments concerning entry
contributions to
retirement villages 7
Part 4 - Amendments
concerning telephone allowance 9
Part 5 - Amendments concerning rent
assistance for persons
receiving Family Tax Benefit 11
Part 6
- Amendments concerning eligibility for Pension
Loan
Scheme 13
Part 7 - Amendments concerning seniors health
cards 15
Part 8 - Amendments relating to non-illness
separated
Spouses 17
OUTLINE AND FINANCIAL IMPACT
Outline
These amendments to the Veterans’
Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA) will remove an inequity in the way in which the
various compensation recovery provisions of the VEA operate. The amendments
will ensure that certain pensioners will not be disadvantaged because they are
not subject to the same compensation recovery provisions as are other pensioners
in similar circumstances.
Financial Impact
No financial impact.
Part
2 – Amendments concerning lump sum compensation payments
Outline
These amendments to the VEA are consequential
amendments relating to earlier changes to the recovery of lump sum compensation
payments received by the partners of service pension or income support
supplement recipients.
The amendments will commence immediately after the commencement of
Schedule 1 to the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Further
Budget 2000 and Other Measures) Act 2002.
Financial
Impact
No financial impact.
Part 3 – Amendments concerning entry contributions to retirement villages
Outline
These amendments to the VEA will prevent the
misuse of the provisions relating to the payment of entry contributions to a
retirement village for the purpose of obtaining rent assistance for which a
person would otherwise be ineligible.
Royal Assent.
Financial Impact
No financial
impact.
Part 4 – Amendments concerning telephone
allowance
Outline
The purpose of these
amendments to the VEA is to clarify the situation for those eligible persons who
operate a mobile telephone instead of a fixed telephone so that they will be
paid a telephone allowance.
Royal Assent.
Financial Impact
No financial
impact.
Part 5 – Amendments concerning rent assistance for persons receiving Family Tax Benefit
Outline
These amendments to the VEA align the
eligibility for rent assistance under the VEA for pensioners who also receive a
Family Tax Benefit at the base rate with the provisions of the Social
Security Act 1991 that apply to social security pensioners in similar
circumstances. The amendments ensure that access to rent assistance is
available under the VEA to those persons receiving Family Tax Benefit without a
rent component.
Royal Assent.
Financial Impact
No financial
impact.
Part 6 – Amendments concerning eligibility for Pension Loan
Scheme
Outline
These amendments to the VEA
extend the eligibility criteria for the Pension Loans Scheme to certain persons
who are not a veteran or the partner of a veteran. They also provide that a
person who is eligible for, or receiving income support supplement may be
eligible for the Pension Loans Scheme from “qualifying age”.
Royal Assent.
Financial Impact
No financial
impact.
Part 7 – Amendments concerning seniors health
cards
Outline
These amendments to the VEA will
enable war widows and war widowers to be eligible for Commonwealth Seniors
Health Card (CSHC) from ‘qualifying age’.
Royal Assent.
Financial Impact
No financial
impact.
Part 8 – Amendments relating to non-illness separated
spouses
Outline
These amendments to the VEA will
amend the definition of a ‘non-illness separated spouse’ so that it
may apply to a person who is a veteran or a non-veteran.
Financial Impact
No financial impact.
Clauses
|
Clause 1 sets out how the Act is to be cited.
|
|
Clause 2 sets out various commencement dates of the provisions in the Act. |
|
Schedule(s)
|
Clause 3 provides that the Act specified in a Schedule to this Act is amended as set out in the items of that Schedule. |
Part 1 - Amendments concerning double
counting
Overview
These amendments to the
Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA) will remove an inequity in
the way in which the compensation recovery provisions of the VEA apply to
persons receiving both a disability pension and a service pension. The
amendments will ensure that age service pensioners receiving compensation
payments that offset the disability pension payments they are receiving will not
have the whole amount of the compensation assessed as income for the purposes of
the income test. This anomaly which has the effect of “double
counting” the compensation received does not arise with other service
pensioners receiving a disability pension who are subject to the Part IIIC
compensation recovery provisions.
Background
The
amendments made by the Veterans’ Affairs (1994-95 Budget Measures)
Legislation Amendment Act (No. 2) 1994 inserted new Part IIIC into
the Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA). The Part IIIC
amendments aligned the compensation recovery provisions for certain service
pensioners and income support supplement recipients with that of equivalent
payments under the Social Security Act 1991.
Persons receiving an
age service pension were not subject to the Part IIIC compensation recovery
provisions. Only those persons who have not reached pension age and in receipt
of an invalidity service pension, partner service pension or income support
supplement are subject to the Part IIIC provisions as they are defined as being
in receipt of a “compensation affected pension”.
At the time
of the 1994 amendments, persons receiving a disability pension under either Part
II or Part IV of the VEA were already subject to separate recovery provisions
under the provisions of those Parts. Those provisions reduce the rate of the
disability pension by the amount of any compensation received for the same
injury, disease or death in respect of which the disability pension is
payable.
For those pensioners receiving reduced disability pensions
because of the existing recovery provisions and who also receive payments of a
“compensation affected pension” the Part IIIC amendments included
provisions to prevent the “double counting” of any compensation
received.
Subsections 5NB(5) and (6) define “compensation” to
exclude compensation payments that have been used to reduce a disability pension
under the recovery provisions of Parts II and IV. For the purposes of the Part
IIIC compensation recovery provisions only the excess of any compensation
payment is taken into account to reduce the rate of a person’s service
pension or income support supplement.
While most persons in receipt of a
disability pension that has been reduced to offset compensation payments that
have been received are covered by the provisions which preclude “double
counting” there are a small number who are disadvantaged as they are not
subject to those provisions.
This group comprises those disability
pensioners who are of “pension age” or older who have their
disability pension reduced because they are in receipt of compensation. For
this group all of the compensation payments they receive are assessed as
ordinary income. This anomaly arises because persons who are of “pension
age” are not subject to the Part IIIC compensation recovery provisions and
therefore the exclusion of the compensation payments under subsections 5NB(5)
and (6) is not applicable.
In such circumstances with all the
compensation payments being counted as ordinary income under the income test the
consequences are a reduction in the rate of income support pension that is based
on the full amount of the compensation received by the person rather than an
amount that does not include the amount that has been offset against the
disability pension.
Pensioners in those circumstances have had their
compensation payments “double counted”, with their disability
pension under Part II or Part IV being reduced on a dollar-for-dollar basis for
the compensation received and under the income test, their service pension has
been reduced by 40 cents in the dollar for every dollar in excess of the income
free area.
Explanation of the Changes
The amendments
to the VEA will prevent the “double counting” of compensation for
the purposes of compensation recovery provisions and the income test.
The
proposed amendments will include in the subsection 5H(8) definition of
“excluded income” any compensation payment or part thereof that has
been used to reduce the rate of disability pension payable to the person and
which is not otherwise disregarded for the purposes of the income
test.
Any excess compensation payment will be regarded as income as long
as the compensation recovery provisions of Part IIIC are not applicable. Such
an excess can occur where the compensation payable is greater than the rate of
disability pension that would otherwise have been payable.
Item 1 inserts new paragraph (ea) into subsection 5H(8).
Subsection 5H(8) provides for the listing of a series of “amounts which
are not income in relation to a person for the purposes of the
Act”.
New paragraph 5H(8)(ea) provides that an amount of income
equivalent to the extent to which any payment of compensation has been taken
into account to reduce a disability pension payable under Part II or Part IV
will be excluded from the income test.
Item 2 amends the note to
paragraph 5H(8)(e) that refers to those provisions of the VEA which do include
the amounts of excluded income referred to in paragraphs 5H(8)(b), (c) and (e).
The amendment adds a reference to paragraph 5H(8)(ea) in that
list.
Commencement
Subclause 2(1) provides that
items 1 and 2 of Schedule 1 commence on Royal Assent.
Part 2 –
Amendments concerning lump sum compensation
payments
Overview
These amendments to the
Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA) are consequential amendments
relating to earlier changes to the recovery of lump sum compensation payments
received by the partners of service pension or income support supplement
recipients.
Background
The amendments made by the
Veterans’ Affairs (1994-95 Budget Measures) Legislation Amendment Act
(No. 2) 1994 inserted a new Part IIIC into the Veterans’
Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA). The Part IIIC amendments aligned the
compensation recovery provisions for certain service pensioners and income
support supplement recipients with that of equivalent payments under the
Social Security Act 1991.
The Part IIIC amendments included
provisions to preclude the payment of the affected pensions to a person who has
or whose partner has received a lump sum compensation payment. In such
circumstances part or all of the person’s pension was not payable for a
period known as the “lump sum preclusion period”.
The
compensation recovery provisions also included provisions relating to the
determination of debts arising from the overpayment of affected pension during
the lump sum preclusion period. Other provisions allowed for the direct
recovery of such debts directly from the compensation payer or
insurer.
Further amendments made by the Veterans’ Affairs
Legislation Amendment (1996-97 Budget Measures) Act 1997 to the compensation
recovery provisions of Part IIIC, provided that, for lump sum compensation
payments received on or after 20 March 1997, the pension payments of the partner
of the person receiving the lump sum compensation would not be subject to the
compensation recovery provisions.
The 1997 amending Act included
consequential amendments to the provisions that determine the debts arising from
the overpayment of an affected pension during the lump sum preclusion period.
The amendments distinguish between lump sums received before 20 March 1997 and
those received on or after that date so that for lump sums received on or after
that date the pension payments received by the partner of the compensation
recipient are not included in the determination.
However, that Act did
not make further consequential amendments to the provisions relating to the
direct recovery of debts from compensation payers and insurers to distinguish
between lump sums received before 20 March 1997 and those received on or after
that date.
Explanation of the Changes
The amendments
provide for changes to the relevant provisions of the Part IIIC compensation
recovery provisions that relate to the direct recovery of compensation debts
directly from compensation payers and insurers.
The changes amend the
provisions applicable to the partners of persons receiving payments of lump sum
compensation and distinguish between lump sum compensation payments received
before and after 20 March 1997.
Item 3 amends subsection 59ZA(3) by including a reference to new
subsection (5AA). Subsection 59ZA(3) refers to the provisions that determine
the “recoverable amount” being the debt that is to be recovered
directly from the compensation payer.
Item 4 repeals and
substitutes a new paragraph 59ZA(5)(b). Subsection 59ZA(5) determines the
recoverable amount where a person claiming a compensation payment is a member of
a couple and their partner receives or is eligible for a compensation affected
pension under the VEA or a similar payment under the Social Security Act
1991.
New paragraph 59ZA(5)(b) provides that subsection 59ZA(5) is
applicable in the circumstances where the partner is eligible for either of
those payments for any of the days in the periodic payments period or lump sum
preclusion period relating to lump sum compensation received before 20 March
1997.
Item 5 inserts new subsection 59ZA(5AA). Subsection
59ZA(5AA) determines the recoverable amount where a person claiming a
compensation payment is a member of a couple and their partner receives or is
eligible for a compensation affected pension under the VEA or a similar payment
under the Social Security Act 1991. Subsection 59ZA(5AA) is applicable
in the circumstances where the partner is eligible for either of those payments
for any of the days in a lump sum preclusion period relating to lump sum
compensation received on or after 20 March 1997.
The recoverable amount
in those circumstances will be equal to the smallest amount of: the sum of all
payments of compensation affected pension to the person during the lump sum
preclusion period; the compensation part of the lump sum payment; or the maximum
amount that the compensation payer is liable to pay to the person at any time
after receiving either the preliminary notice under section 59Y or a recovery
notice under section 59ZA.
Item 6 amends subsection 59ZG(3) by
including a reference to new subsection (5AA). Subsection 59ZG(3) refers to the
provisions that determine the “recoverable amount” being the debt
that is to be recovered directly from the insurer.
Item 7 repeals
and substitutes a new paragraph 59ZG(5)(b). Subsection 59ZG(5) determines the
recoverable amount where a person claiming a compensation payment is a member of
a couple and their partner receives or claims a compensation affected pension
under the VEA or a similar payment under the Social Security Act
1991.
New paragraph 59ZG(5)(b) provides that subsection 59ZG(5) is
applicable in the circumstances where the partner receives or is eligible for
either of those payments for any of the days in the periodic payments period or
lump sum preclusion period relating to lump sum compensation received before 20
March 1997.
Item 8 inserts new subsection 59ZG(5AA). Subsection
59ZG(5AA) determines the recoverable amount where a person claiming a
compensation payment is a member of a couple and their partner receives or is
eligible for a compensation affected pension under the VEA or a similar payment
under the Social Security Act 1991. Subsection 59ZG(5AA) is applicable
in the circumstances where the partner receives or is eligible for either of
those payments for any of the days in a lump sum preclusion period relating to
lump sum compensation received on or after 20 March 1997.
The recoverable
amount in those circumstances will be equal to the smallest amount of: the sum
of all payments of compensation affected pension to the person for the lump sum
preclusion period; the compensation part of the lump sum payment; or the maximum
amount that the insurer is liable to pay to the person at any time after
receiving either the preliminary notice under section 59ZE or a recovery notice
under section 59ZG.
Commencement
Subclause 2(1)
provides that items 3 to 8 of Schedule 1 commence immediately after the
commencement of Schedule 1 to the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation
Amendment (Further Budget 2000 and Other Measures) Act 2002.
Part 3
– Amendments concerning entry contributions to retirement
villages
Overview
Background
Rent assistance is payable to eligible
persons receiving a service pension or income support supplement if, along with
other requirements, a person pays or is liable to pay rent. Subsection 5N(2) of
the VEA defines the circumstances in which amounts payable by a person will be
defined as “rent”.
None of the amounts that are referred to
in the definition of “rent” include any amount that could be
regarded as being all or part of an entry contribution to secure a place in a
retirement village. The existing legislation provides that a person will be
eligible for rent assistance where the entry contribution paid is less than or
equal to the difference (called the “extra allowable amount”)
between the asset limit for a property owner and the asset limit for a
non-property owner.
By manipulating the amount paid as an entry
contribution to a lower amount a person may receive rent assistance for which
they would otherwise have been ineligible. A person could also classify
repayments of the entry contribution as rent and also receive a higher amount of
rent assistance than they would have otherwise been eligible
for.
Amendments were made to the relevant provisions of the Social
Security Act 1991 (SSA) as a consequence of decisions of the Federal Court
in cases involving the entry contribution paid by a person to secure a right of
residence in a retirement village. Those amendments were included in the
Social Security and Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment (Family and
Other Measures) Act 1997 and were intended to prevent a person from deriving
any benefit from the manipulation of an amount paid as an entry
contribution.
Explanation of the Changes
These
amendments are similar to those that were made to the SSA. The amendments
clarify that any amounts that can be regarded as entry contributions to
retirement villages (including deductions from repayable entry contributions)
are not “rent” for rent assistance purposes.
Item 9 amends the section 5 (Index of definitions) listing for
“rent” by replacing the reference to subsections “5N(2), (3),
(4)” with section “5N”.
Item 10 amends the
subsection 5N(1) definition of “rent” by replacing the reference to
it being defined in “subsections (2) and (3)” with a reference to
“this section”.
Item 11 inserts new subsections
5N(3AA) and (3AB).
New subsection 5N(3AA) refers to an amount that is, or
forms part of, a special resident’s entry contribution in respect of a
retirement village under section 52M.
Subsection 5MC(3) defines the term
“special resident” to mean, among other things, a retirement village
resident. Subsections 52M(1) and (1A) define a special resident’s entry
contribution in terms of the resident’s “individual residence
contribution”.
For a retirement village resident, subsection
52M(1D) provides that the “individual residence contribution” is the
total amount paid, or agreed to be paid, for the resident’s current right
to live in the retirement village.
New subsection 5N(3AA) provides that
where there is any doubt an amount that is or is part of a special
resident’s entry contribution is not rent, whether it has been paid or is
payable in whole or in part in a lump sum, by instalments or
otherwise.
New subsection 5N(3AB) is applicable in the circumstances
where the whole or any part of an amount which is not rent because of new
subsection 5N(3AA) is, or will, or may become repayable to the person. In such
circumstances, any amount by which the amount so repayable is reduced is not
rent in relation to the person, either at the time when the reduction occurs or
at any later time.
Commencement
Subclause 2(1)
provides that items 9 to 11 of Schedule 1 commence on Royal
Assent.
Part 4 – Amendments concerning telephone
allowance
Overview
The purpose of these
amendments to the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA) is to clarify the
situation for those eligible persons who operate a mobile telephone instead of a
fixed telephone so that they will be paid a telephone
allowance.
Background
The payment of a telephone
allowance under the VEA commenced from 1 July 1992. The amendments were included
in the Veterans’ Affairs Legislation Amendment Act 1992 and
inserted as new Part VIIB of the VEA.
The new Part set out the
eligibility provisions and the circumstances under which a telephone allowance
was payable. The payment was to be made on a quarterly basis and was to be
adjusted annually in accordance with movements in the Consumer Price
Index.
The legislative basis of the payment of the allowance replaced the
administratively based telephone voucher system. The voucher system had
previously enabled pensioners to claim a rebate on the payment of their
telephone accounts.
The provisions of Part VIIB provide that one of the
requirements for eligibility for the allowance is that a person has to be a
“a telephone subscriber” as defined in the provisions.
The
definition of “telephone subscriber” requires the person to have
“a telephone service connected to a home of the person in
Australia”.
The requirement for the telephone service to be
“connected” to the home of a person is not found in the equivalent
provision in the Social Security Act 1991 (SSA). The SSA refers
in subsection 1061Q(5) to “a person who has a telephone service connected
in Australia in his or her name”.
The different form of words used
in the SSA provision would not prevent the payment of a telephone allowance to
those eligible persons who have a mobile telephone rather than a fixed telephone
line.
Explanation of the Changes
The amendments to
the provisions defining a “telephone subscriber” replace the
reference to a person having a telephone service “connected to a home of
the person in Australia” with a reference to a person having “a
telephone service connected in Australia in his or her name”.
The
amended definition will not preclude the payment of a telephone allowance to
eligible persons with a mobile telephone.
Item 12 amends the definition of “telephone
subscriber” in subsection 118Q(4). Paragraph (b) is amended by replacing
the reference to a person “who has a telephone service connected to a home
of the person in Australia” with a reference to a person “who has a
telephone service connected in Australia”.
Item 13 amends
paragraph (c) of the definition by replacing a reference to “whose
telephone service” with a reference to “the telephone
service”.
Commencement
Subclause 2(1) provides
that items 12 and 13 of Schedule 1 commence on Royal Assent.
Part 5
– Amendments concerning rent assistance for persons receiving Family Tax
Benefit
Overview
These amendments to the
Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA) align the eligibility for rent
assistance under the VEA for pensioners who also receive a Family Tax Benefit at
the base rate with the provisions of the Social Security Act 1991 that
apply to social security pensioners in similar circumstances. The amendments
ensure that access to rent assistance is available under the VEA to those
persons receiving Family Tax Benefit without a rent component.
Currently, under paragraph SCH6-C3(f) of the VEA, a person cannot be paid
rent assistance under the VEA if the person or the person’s partner has a
Family Tax Benefit child. The amendments to paragraph SCH6-C3(f) including the
references to FTB followed the introduction of the payments under the A New
Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999.
There are some circumstances
where rent assistance will not be payable as part of the FTB because of a
disqualifying provision. Those circumstances include such things as a failure
to take reasonable action to obtain maintenance. Paragraph SCH6-C3(f) operates
so that a person who is subject to one of the disqualifying provisions and who
is also receiving a pension or benefit under the VEA for which they would have
been eligible for rent assistance as an adjunct to that payment is precluded
from receiving rent assistance under the VEA.
Amendments to the VEA to
prevent this anomaly were inadvertently overlooked at the time when the
amendments were made to paragraph SCH6-C3(f) to replace references to family
allowance with references to Family Tax Benefit.
Amendments to the SSA
had previously been made by the Social Security and Veterans’ Affairs
Legislation Amendment (Family and Other Measures) Act 1997 to provide for
the payment of rent assistance to eligible persons who were not receiving rent
assistance as part of their family assistance payment. The SSA was subsequently
amended to replace the reference to family assistance with a reference to the
payment of the FTB.
Because similar amendment were not made to the VEA,
an inequity has arisen between a person receiving FTB and a pension under the
VEA who is ineligible for rent assistance and a person in similar circumstances
receiving a pension or benefit under the SSA who is eligible for rent
assistance.
The relevant provision in the VEA Rate Calculator for Rent Assistance,
paragraph SCH6-C3(f) is being amended to provide that a person will not be
ineligible for rent assistance under the VEA if they are receiving FTB at the
base rate which does not include rent assistance.
Additional amendments
to the VEA Rate Calculators in Schedule 6 are also being made as a consequence
of the transfer of responsibility for family payments from the SSA to the Family
Assistance Office under the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act
1999.
Item 14 amends point SCH6-C3 by replacing paragraph (f)
with a new paragraph. Point SCH6-C3 determines the circumstances in which a
person receiving a service pension or income support supplement will be eligible
for rent assistance.
New paragraph SCH6-C3(f) provides that rent
assistance will be added to a person’s maximum basic rate of service
pension or income support supplement if the person receives FTB at a rate that
does not include rent assistance and:
• the person is a not a
member of a couple; or
• is a member of an illness separated couple or
respite care couple.
Rent assistance will also be added to a
person’s maximum basic rate if the person is a member of a couple and the
person’s partner is entitled to be paid FTB at a rate that does not
include rent assistance.
Item 15 amends point SCH6-E10 by
inserting new paragraph (ca). Point SCH6-E10 refers to the payments which are
not included under either point SCH6-E8 or SCH6-E9. Points SCH6-E8 and SCH6-E9
reduce for the purposes of the income test, the additional free area for
dependant children where a payment is received by a person or a person’s
partner for a dependant child.
New paragraph SCH6-E10(ca) includes
payments of FTB received under the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act
1999 in the list of payments that will not be used to reduce the additional
free area for dependant children under points SCH6-E8 or
SCH6-E9.
Commencement
Subclause 2(1) provides that
items 14 and 15 of Schedule 1 commence on Royal Assent.
Part 6 –
Amendments concerning eligibility for Pension Loan Scheme
These amendments to the VEA extend the eligibility criteria for the
Pension Loans Scheme to certain persons who are not a veteran or the partner of
a veteran. They also provide that a person who is eligible for, or receiving
income support supplement may be eligible for the Pension Loans Scheme from
“qualifying age”.
The Pension Loans Scheme was introduced in 1985 to provide income support
in the form of a loan to veterans, eligible for, or in receipt of service
pension, who have reached pension age, or to the partners of such veterans. The
Scheme allows a person whose rate of pension has been reduced under the income
or assets test to receive additional payments of pension, up to the maximum rate
of pension, by agreeing to a statutory charge over their assets for the extra
amounts of advanced pension.
In 1995, the VEA was amended to provide
for the payment of an income support supplement, a means tested pension
available only to war widow/ers. At the same time, consequential amendments
were made to the Pension Loans Scheme provisions to provide eligibility for
income support supplement recipients. However, the amendments had the
unintended consequence of limiting eligibility for the Pension Loans Scheme to a
person who is a veteran or a partner of a veteran. This effectively excluded
the majority of income support supplement recipients who are not veterans in
their own right, nor the partner of a veteran. It also excluded persons on
partner service pension who are not veterans in their own right or the partner
of a veteran.
Furthermore, the consequential amendments failed to
provide that persons, eligible for, or in receipt of, income support supplement,
would be eligible for the Pension Loans Scheme from “qualifying
age”, rather than “pension age”, subject to the person meeting
the other eligibility criteria.
The intention was to enable any person
eligible for, or in receipt of, income support supplement, who has reached
‘qualifying age, and who meet the other criteria, to be eligible for the
Scheme.
The amendments will extend the eligibility criteria for the Pension Loans
Scheme to include a person who is eligible for, or in receipt of, income support
supplement who is not a veteran or the partner of a veteran. The amendments will
similarly extend the eligibility criteria for the Pension Loans Scheme to
include a person who is eligible for, or in receipt of, partner service pension
who is not a veteran or the partner of a veteran and who meets the other
eligibility criteria. Furthermore, the amendments will extend the eligibility
criteria for the Pension Loans Scheme to include a person who is eligible for,
or in receipt of, income support supplement and who has reached
“qualifying age” and who meets the other eligibility criteria.
Item 16 repeals paragraph 52ZA(1)(b). This means that eligibility
for the Pension Loans Scheme for a single person (a person who is not a member
of a couple), is no longer limited to a veteran.
Item 17 repeals paragraph 52ZA(1)(d) and substitutes a new
paragraph. This new paragraph provides the age eligibility requirements for a
person who is not a member of a couple.
Item 18 repeals paragraph 52ZA(2)(b). This removes the
requirement that a person who is a member of a couple, has to be either a
veteran or the partner of a veteran. This means that a person who is a member
of a couple and who is eligible for, or in receipt of, income support supplement
may be eligible for the Pension Loans Scheme.
Item 19 repeals
paragraph 52ZA(2)(d) and substitutes a new paragraph 52ZA(2)(d). This new
paragraph provides the age eligibility requirements for a person who is a member
of a couple.
New subparagraph 52ZA(2)(d)(i) provides that, if the person
is a veteran, the person must have reached pension age. New subparagraph
52ZA(2)(d)(ii) provides that, if the person is the partner of a veteran, the
veteran must have reached pension age. New subparagraph 52ZA(2)(d)(iii)
provides that, if a person is eligible for or receiving income support
supplement, the person must have reached qualifying age.
Item 20
provides that, for the purposes of section 52ZA, ‘qualifying age’
has the same meaning as it does in subsection
45A(2).
Commencement
Subclause 2(1) provides that
items 16 to 20 of Schedule 1 commence on Royal Assent.
Part 7 –
Amendments concerning seniors health cards
These amendments to the VEA will enable war widows and war widowers to be
eligible for Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) from ‘qualifying
age’, which is the same age that they are eligible for income support
supplement.
Background
The CSHC was introduced to
extend a limited range of concessions to low income non-pensioners who have
reached pension age but who are not in receipt of an income support pension
because their income or assets are too high.
The Federal Government
provides CSHC holders with pharmaceuticals at a concessional rate and telephone
allowance. In November 2001, concessional fares were extended to CSHC holders
for travel aboard Great Southern Rail lines. Also, in the 2001 Budget, the
Government committed to negotiating with State Governments for the extension of
full Pensioner Concession Card (PCC) concessions to CSHC holders.
Prior
to these extensions, war widow/ers gained no additional benefit from obtaining a
CSHC as they are already entitled to concessional pharmaceuticals and telephone
allowance under the VEA. The new concessions have created an incentive for war
widow/ers to claim CSHC. This new demand for CSHC has highlighted an anomaly in
the eligibility criteria for CSHC in relation to war widow/ers.
Under the
current CSHC legislation a war widow/er must meet the eligibility criteria under
subparagraph 118V(3)(a)(iii) which requires a person to be the widow/er
of a veteran. The existing provision does not acknowledge the special
status of war widow/ers under the VEA and requires the war widow/er to have
reached ‘pension age’ rather than ‘qualifying
age’.
Generally, a person is eligible for a CSHC at the same age as
income support eligibility. For veterans, this is veteran pension age which is
five years earlier than pension age for persons other than veterans. A war
widow/er is eligible for income support supplement at ‘qualifying
age’ which is aligned with veteran pension age. The current eligibility
criteria for CSHC do not entitle a war widow/er to CSHC from the earlier
‘qualifying age’. The CSHC eligibility criteria for war widow/ers
is therefore inconsistent with the other income support eligibility criteria
under the VEA.
Explanation of the Changes
These
amendments will create a separate set of eligibility criteria for CSHC to apply
to war widows and war widowers. This will enable the alignment of
age
eligibility criterion for CSHC for war widow/ers with that for income support
supplement and other benefits available to war widow/ers under the VEA. That
is, from ‘qualifying age’ which is five years earlier than
‘pension age’ for persons other than veterans.
These
amendments will make the age eligibility criterion for CSHC consistent with the
age eligibility criterion for war widow/ers eligible for an income support
payment.
Item 21 inserts a new subsection 118V(1A) after subsection
118V(1). New subsection 118V(1A) provides a new set of eligibility criteria
that are applicable only to a war widow or war widower.
To be eligible
for a seniors health card under this new subsection, a person must meet all of
the following criteria:
• the person must be a war widow or a war
widower; and
• the person must have reached qualifying age;
and
• the person must be an Australian resident; and
• the
person must be in Australia; and
• the person must not be receiving
income support supplement; and
• the person must satisfy the seniors
health card income test; and
The three notes immediately following the new subsection, point out the
location of definitions for the defined terms used in the eligibility
criteria.
Item 22 amends paragraph 118V(2)(i) by omitting the
words “under subsection (1)” and substituting the words “under
subsection (1) or (1A)”.
This amendment will ensure that a person
who is the partner of a veteran but who is also a war widow/er, is only eligible
under the more beneficial new provision.
Item 23 amends paragraphs
118V(3)(b) and (f) by omitting the words “or income support
supplement”, wherever they occur in those paragraphs.
This ensures
that subsection 118V(3) will no longer hold any relevance for war
widow/ers.
Item 24 amends paragraph 118V(3)(i) by omitting the
words “under subsection (1)” and substituting the words “under
subsection (1) or (1A)”.
This amendment will ensure that a war
widow/er, who is also a widow/er as defined under the VEA, is eligible only
under the more beneficial new provision.
Item 25 inserts a new
subsection 118V(4A) after section 118V(4). New subsection 118V(4A) provides
that, for the purposes of subsection 118V(1A), ‘qualifying age’ has
the same meaning as it does in subsection 45A(2).
Subclause 2(1) provides that items 21 to 25 of Schedule 1 commence on
Royal Assent.
Part 8 – Amendments relating to non-illness
separated spouses
These changes amend the definition of “non-illness separated
spouse”.
The current definition of a “non-illness separated spouse”
applies only to the spouse of a veteran. This means a veteran cannot be the
“non-illness separated spouse” for the purposes of the VEA.
These amendments will enable the definition of a “non-illness
separated spouse” to apply to a person who is a veteran or a
non-veteran.
Item 26 repeals the definition of “non-illness
separated spouse” in subsection 5E(1) of the VEA and substitutes a new
definition.
The new definition provides that a “non-illness
separated spouse” is a person who is legally married to another person but
who is living separately and apart from that other person on a permanent basis
and whose separation has not resulted in a direction under subsection 5R(5).
Subclause 2(1) provides that item 26 of Schedule 1 commences on Royal
Assent.