Bills — Social Services Legislation Amendment (Fair and Sustainable Pensions) Bill 2015; Second Reading
Passed by a small majority
No rebellions 87% attendance
18th Jun 2015 – Representatives Social Services Legislation Amendment (Fair and Sustainable Pensions) Bill 2015 - Second Reading - Agree with bill's main idea
Summary
EditThe majority agreed with the bill's main idea. In parliamentary jargon, they voted in favour of reading the bill for a second time. This means that they can now discuss the bill in more detail.
What is the bill's main idea?
The bill (as amended) makes changes to the assets test for all means tested income support payments, including allowances and pensions. Firstly, it increases the threshold above which your assests are tested (known as "free areas") for the purposes of support payments. In other words, people on allowances or full pensions can have more assets than they currently can before those assets are included in their means testing - but not that much more. See the bills digest for the asset test limits.
People on allowances whose assets are above the free areas will no longer be eligible for that allowance while pensioners whose assets are above the free areas will have their pensions reduced at an increased rate.
If someone is no longer eligible for a payment as a result of the changes, the bill makes them eligible for a concession card (either a Health Care Card or a Commonwealth Seniors Health Card).
Read more in the bills digest.
Votes Passed by a small majority
Nobody rebelled against their party.
| Party | Votes | |
|---|---|---|
| Adam Bandt Melbourne Australian Greens | Absent | |
| Australian Labor Party (93% turnout) | 0 Yes – 51 No | |
| Anthony Albanese Grayndler | No | |
| Sharon Bird Cunningham | No | |
| Chris Bowen McMahon | No | |
| Gai Brodtmann Canberra | No | |
| Anna Burke Chisholm | No | |
| Tony Burke Watson | No | |
| Mark Butler Port Adelaide | No | |
| Terri Butler Griffith | No | |
| Anthony Byrne Holt | No | |
| Jim Chalmers Rankin | No | |
| Nick Champion Wakefield | No | |
| Lisa Chesters Bendigo | No | |
| Jason Clare Blaxland | No | |
| Sharon Claydon Newcastle | No | |
| Julie Collins Franklin | No | |
| Pat Conroy Charlton | No | |
| Michael Danby Melbourne Ports | No | |
| Mark Dreyfus Isaacs | No | |
| Justine Elliot Richmond | No | |
| David Feeney Batman | No | |
| Laurie Ferguson Werriwa | No | |
| Joel Fitzgibbon Hunter | No | |
| Andrew Giles Scullin | No | |
| Gary Gray Brand | No | |
| Alan Griffin Bruce | No | |
| Jill Hall Shortland | No | |
| Chris Hayes Fowler | No | |
| Ed Husic Chifley | No | |
| Stephen Jones Throsby | No | |
| Andrew Leigh Fraser | No | |
| Jenny Macklin Jagajaga | No | |
| Alannah Mactiernan Perth | No | |
| Richard Marles Corio | No | |
| Rob Mitchell McEwen | No | |
| Shayne Neumann Blair | No | |
| Brendan O'Connor Gorton | No | |
| Clare O'Neil Hotham | No | |
| Julie Owens Parramatta | No | |
| Melissa Parke Fremantle | No | |
| Graham Perrett Moreton | No | |
| Tanya Plibersek Sydney | No | |
| Bernie Ripoll Oxley | No | |
| Amanda Rishworth Kingston | No | |
| Michelle Rowland Greenway | No | |
| Joanne Ryan Lalor | No | |
| Bill Shorten Maribyrnong | No | |
| Warren Snowdon Lingiari | No | |
| Wayne Swan Lilley | No | |
| Matt Thistlethwaite Kingsford Smith | No | |
| Tim Watts Gellibrand | No | |
| Tony Zappia Makin | No | |
| Kate Ellis Adelaide | Absent | |
| Catherine King Ballarat | Absent | |
| Kelvin Thomson Wills | Absent | |
| Maria Vamvakinou Calwell | Absent | |
| Natasha Griggs Solomon Country Liberal Party | Yes | |
| Bruce Scott Maranoa Deputy Speaker | Yes | |
| Cathy McGowan Indi Independent | No | |
| Andrew Wilkie Denison Independent | No | |
| Bob Katter Kennedy Katter's Australian Party | Absent | |
| Liberal Party (84% turnout) | 61 Yes – 0 No | |
| John Alexander Bennelong | Yes | |
| Karen Andrews McPherson | Yes | |
| Kevin Andrews Menzies | Yes | |
| Bob Baldwin Paterson | Yes | |
| Bruce Billson Dunkley | Yes | |
| Julie Bishop Curtin | Yes | |
| Jamie Briggs Mayo | Yes | |
| Russell Broadbent McMillan | Yes | |
| Mal Brough Fisher | Yes | |
| Scott Buchholz Wright | Yes | |
| Steven Ciobo Moncrieff | Yes | |
| David Coleman Banks | Yes | |
| Warren Entsch Leichhardt | Yes | |
| Josh Frydenberg Kooyong | Yes | |
| Ian Goodenough Moore | Yes | |
| Alex Hawke Mitchell | Yes | |
| Sarah Henderson Corangamite | Yes | |
| Peter Hendy Eden-Monaro | Yes | |
| Joe Hockey North Sydney | Yes | |
| Luke Howarth Petrie | Yes | |
| Greg Hunt Flinders | Yes | |
| Eric Hutchinson Lyons | Yes | |
| Steve Irons Swan | Yes | |
| Dennis Jensen Tangney | Yes | |
| Ewen Jones Herbert | Yes | |
| Michael Keenan Stirling | Yes | |
| Andrew Laming Bowman | Yes | |
| Craig Laundy Reid | Yes | |
| Sussan Ley Farrer | Yes | |
| Ian Macfarlane Groom | Yes | |
| Nola Marino Forrest | Yes | |
| Louise Markus Macquarie | Yes | |
| Russell Matheson Macarthur | Yes | |
| Karen McNamara Dobell | Yes | |
| Scott Morrison Cook | Yes | |
| Andrew Nikolic Bass | Yes | |
| Christian Porter Pearce | Yes | |
| Jane Prentice Ryan | Yes | |
| Melissa Price Durack | Yes | |
| Christopher Pyne Sturt | Yes | |
| Rowan Ramsey Grey | Yes | |
| Don Randall Canning | Yes | |
| Wyatt Roy Longman | Yes | |
| Philip Ruddock Berowra | Yes | |
| Fiona Scott Lindsay | Yes | |
| Luke Simpkins Cowan | Yes | |
| Tony Smith Casey | Yes | |
| Andrew Southcott Boothby | Yes | |
| Sharman Stone Murray | Yes | |
| Ann Sudmalis Gilmore | Yes | |
| Michael Sukkar Deakin | Yes | |
| Angus Taylor Hume | Yes | |
| Alan Tudge Aston | Yes | |
| Malcolm Turnbull Wentworth | Yes | |
| Bert Van Manen Forde | Yes | |
| Nickolas Varvaris Barton | Yes | |
| Ross Vasta Bonner | Yes | |
| Brett Whiteley Braddon | Yes | |
| Matt Williams Hindmarsh | Yes | |
| Jason Wood La Trobe | Yes | |
| Ken Wyatt Hasluck | Yes | |
| Tony Abbott Warringah | Absent | |
| Peter Dutton Dickson | Absent | |
| Paul Fletcher Bradfield | Absent | |
| Teresa Gambaro Brisbane | Absent | |
| Craig Kelly Hughes | Absent | |
| Kelly O'Dwyer Higgins | Absent | |
| Tony Pasin Barker | Absent | |
| Andrew Robb Goldstein | Absent | |
| Stuart Robert Fadden | Absent | |
| Dan Tehan Wannon | Absent | |
| Lucy Wicks Robertson | Absent | |
| Rick Wilson O'Connor | Absent | |
| National Party (100% turnout) | 14 Yes – 0 No | |
| Andrew Broad Mallee | Yes | |
| Darren Chester Gippsland | Yes | |
| George Christensen Dawson | Yes | |
| John Cobb Calare | Yes | |
| Mark Coulton Parkes | Yes | |
| David Gillespie Lyne | Yes | |
| Luke Hartsuyker Cowper | Yes | |
| Kevin Hogan Page | Yes | |
| Barnaby Joyce New England | Yes | |
| Michelle Landry Capricornia | Yes | |
| Michael McCormack Riverina | Yes | |
| Ken O'Dowd Flynn | Yes | |
| Keith Pitt Hinkler | Yes | |
| Warren Truss Wide Bay | Yes | |
| Clive Palmer Fairfax Palmer United Party | Absent | |
| Bronwyn Bishop Mackellar Speaker | Absent | |
| Totals (87% turnout) | 77 Yes – 53 No |
Turnout is the percentage of members eligible to vote that did vote.