Division
David Leyonhjelm The Family Tax Benefit (Tighter Income Test) Bill 2014 cuts government spending by more than $270 million a year by means-testing family tax benefit part A more rigorously. Both the coalition and Labor recognise that welfare payments should be means tested. This may seem an uncontroversial idea, but we should remember that some countries have welfare payments that are not means-tested, like universal age pensions, and we should remember that Labor have a troubled relationship with means-testing. They are proud of their changes in recent years to more rigorously means-test family payments and the private health insurance rebate, but they do not want to means-test access to Medicare, and they defend concessional loans for high-income beneficiaries of higher education. The coalition too have a troubled relationship with means-testing. They have loosened means-testing for the age pension and want the private health insurance rebate to be universal. And both sides have continued tied funding to the states that bans state owned hospitals and schools from imposing fees, even on high-income users of these services. Thanks to this inconsistency on means-testing, I have no great hope of support from either the coalition or Labor. But let me go through the process of making the case for the bill. Family tax benefit part A is a welfare payment. Do not be fooled by the mention of tax in the name. It goes to families regardless of whether or not they pay tax. Current and previous governments have decided that families with the least income need this welfare payment of up to $6,723 per child but that a family's need for it reduces when family income exceeds around $50,000. For each dollar earned over that amount, the welfare payment is reduced by 20c. This arrangement is unremarkable and is unaffected by my bill. However, in what is a bizarre and completely unwarranted quirk, when the welfare payment reaches $2,204.60, further rises in income do not prompt further
Senate, 2014-12-04. negative: ayes 29, noes 33.
Question
David Leyonhjelm The Family Tax Benefit (Tighter Income Test) Bill 2014 cuts government spending by more than $270 million a year by means-testing family tax benefit part A more rigorously. Both the coalition and Labor recognise that welfare payments should be means tested. This may seem an uncontroversial idea, but we should remember that some countries have welfare payments that are not means-tested, like universal age pensions, and we should remember that Labor have a troubled relationship with means-testing. They are proud of their changes in recent years to more rigorously means-test family payments and the private health insurance rebate, but they do not want to means-test access to Medicare, and they defend concessional loans for high-income beneficiaries of higher education. The coalition too have a troubled relationship with means-testing. They have loosened means-testing for the age pension and want the private health insurance rebate to be universal. And both sides have continued tied funding to the states that bans state owned hospitals and schools from imposing fees, even on high-income users of these services. Thanks to this inconsistency on means-testing, I have no great hope of support from either the coalition or Labor. But let me go through the process of making the case for the bill. Family tax benefit part A is a welfare payment. Do not be fooled by the mention of tax in the name. It goes to families regardless of whether or not they pay tax. Current and previous governments have decided that families with the least income need this welfare payment of up to $6,723 per child but that a family's need for it reduces when family income exceeds around $50,000. For each dollar earned over that amount, the welfare payment is reduced by 20c. This arrangement is unremarkable and is unaffected by my bill. However, in what is a bizarre and completely unwarranted quirk, when the welfare payment reaches $2,204.60, further rises in income do not prompt further
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