Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

That is right; it was the Parkinson report, which had a community group who worked very hard at working through all those issues, complexities, effects on other payments, and the different rates of care and how those impacted on people’s entitlements. It was hugely complex.

It is not a matter of us hiding behind purely financial concerns. In fact, as I say, this is a massive commitment to carers of $822 million. We have certainly put our money where our mouths are, but we have also tried to do what is good public policy, and I think we have achieved that outcome. This is a task beyond this piece of legislation. It is a task that would require a large amount of dedicated work before we would be in a position to deal with that. It has been put on the agenda, and we acknowledge that, but it is not part of this bill. It is not something that can be done on the run. It would take a very serious commitment to a reform process to make progress in that area.