Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Lifting the Income Limit for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card) Bill 2022

The majority voted in favour of disagreeing with Senate amendments (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 (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.