Bill
Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Lifting the Income Limit for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card) Bill 2022
passed, as at 2022-10-28. Social Services portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Social Services
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2022-07-27
- second reading — 2022-07-27
- second reading — 2022-08-04
- second reading — 2022-08-04
- third reading — 2022-08-04
- introduced — 2022-09-05
- second reading — 2022-09-05
- second reading — 2022-09-28
- second reading — 2022-09-28
- committee — 2022-09-28
- third reading — 2022-09-28
- other — 2022-10-25
- other — 2022-10-26
- other — 2022-10-26
- passed — 2022-10-26
- royal assent — 2022-10-28
Divisions
- Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Lifting the Income Limit for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card) Bill 2022 - in Committee - Put the question — 2022-09-28, Senate: affirmative, ayes 35, noes 14
- The majority voted in favour of [amendments (3) and (8)](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?gid=2022-09-28.21.1) on sheet 1643, which was introduced by West Australian Senator [Michaelia Cash](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/wa/michaelia_cash) (Liberal), which means they will now be part of the bill. The amendments related to suspending benefits and entitlements instead of cancelling them. ### Amendment text Due to their length, see [sheet 1643](https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Famend%2Fr6877_amend_c9a0e5e3-c8b8-44e7-9436-c012e5c5e6ca%22;rec=0) for the text of amendments (3) and (8). ### What does this bill do? According to the [bills digest](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd2223a/23bd003), the key points are that: > * *The Bill aims to increase the income limits for eligibility for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.* > * *The measure was a Coalition election commitment subsequently matched by Labor.* > * *The changes will primarily benefit high-income and/or asset-rich retirees. Around 44,000 newly eligible CSHC holders are expected to benefit in the first year, rising to an addition 52,000 by 2026-27.* > * *The changes are expected to cost $69.4m over the forward estimates.* — 2022-09-28, Senate: affirmative, ayes 35, noes 14
- The majority voted in favour of [amendments (4) and (9)](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?gid=2022-09-28.193.1) on sheet 1643, which was introduced by West Australian Senator [Dean Smith](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/wa/dean_smith) (Liberal), which means they will now form part of the bill. The amendments related to the commencement of the provisions related to pensioner concession cards and the inclusion of an extended qualification for pensioner concession cards. ### Amendment text Due to their length, see [sheet 1643](https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Famend%2Fr6877_amend_c9a0e5e3-c8b8-44e7-9436-c012e5c5e6ca%22;rec=0) for the text of amendments (4) and (9). ### What does this bill do? According to the [bills digest](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd2223a/23bd003), the key points are that: > * *The Bill aims to increase the income limits for eligibility for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card.* > * *The measure was a Coalition election commitment subsequently matched by Labor.* > * *The changes will primarily benefit high-income and/or asset-rich retirees. Around 44,000 newly eligible CSHC holders are expected to benefit in the first year, rising to an addition 52,000 by 2026-27.* > * *The changes are expected to cost $69.4m over the forward estimates.* — 2022-09-28, Senate: affirmative, ayes 32, noes 15
- The majority voted in favour of *disagreeing* with [Senate amendments](https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22legislation%2Fsched%2Fr6877_sched_328c9eab-c753-4f57-9311-11a7f09d6d08%22;rec=0) (2) to (7) and (14) to (16). This means that the bill will be returned to the Senate where our senators will decide on whether to insist on their amendments or not. Kingston MP [Amanda Rishworth](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/representatives/kingston/amanda_rishworth) (Labor) explained why the Labor party opposed these amendments: > *These amendments that have been put forward are amendments that are completely unrelated to the Commonwealth seniors health card. In fact, the amendments are based on a completely separate private member's bill introduced into the Senate on 3 August 2022 by Senator Dean Smith. The Senate 28 September 2022 amendments to the bill do not concern the Commonwealth seniors health card. They do not concern the income limits that the Commonwealth seniors health card relates to. This is a political tactic by the opposition to delay many seniors access to this important card, and I urge the opposition to stop these shenanigans.* — 2022-10-26, House of Representatives: affirmative, ayes 74, noes 68
- The majority voted in favour of a [motion](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?id=2022-10-26.189.1): > *That the committee does not insist on its amendments to which the House of Representatives has disagreed.* The House of Representatives had previously [disagreed with several amendments](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/divisions/representatives/2022-10-26/1) proposed by the Senate. By not insisting on the amendments, the Senate has agreed to pass the bill without them. This means the bill can now [become part of our law](https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/how-parliament-works/bills-and-laws/making-a-law-in-the-australian-parliament/). — 2022-10-26, Senate: affirmative, ayes 31, noes 24
Plain-language summary
No machine-written summary in this export.
Sources
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