WELFARE RIGHTS TEAM (MAREE, CAS & GERARD)

The National Welfare Rights Network (NWRN) is a network of community legal centres throughout Australia that specialise in Social Security law and its administration by Centrelink. Based on the experience of clients of NWRN members, the Network also develops policy and advocates for reform.

NWRN member organisations provide assistance to their clients generally by phone, at least in the first instance. NWRN members also conduct training and education for community workers and produce publications to help Social Security recipients and community organisations understand the system.

Why is Welfare Rights representing this same-sex law reform campaign?

We're here help people from the gay and lesbian community if they have problems with the changes to the Social Security laws. There are 84 reasons to celebrate these same- sex law reforms. But when it comes to Centrelink payments- there will be some people who may lose a lot of money and some people may actually be taken off their payments. We can't change the law, but we can advocate for change and help people wend their way through the Centrelink maze.

What kind of help can Welfare Rights offer people?

The Welfare Rights Centre is a community legal centre. We specialise in Social Security and Family Assistance law. Our role is to assist people who have to deal with Centrelink. In particular, we've been working with the same-sex community, first to get the grandfathering provisions, and now to help them to deal with Centrelink as a result of the changes. And we've had lots and lots of clients.

What are the key Social Security changes?

Social Security laws are an issue for everyone in Australian society receiving Centrelink payments. Centrelink treats people in couples as though they don't need as much money as they do if they are living singly. So now if you're recognised as being part of a same-sex couple, the first change is that you'll receive the partnered rate. After that, both your income and assets and also your partner's income and assets will be looked at. That means that quite a lot of people will receive a reduction in their payment. We've also got some people who are very, very worried that they've lost their pensioner concession card. That pensioner concession card and health care card is vital to a lot of people in the gay and lesbian community. We have to make sure we keep trying to advocate to help people get it back.

Will Welfare Rights treat my information as confidential?

One of the things about the Welfare Rights centre is that it's independent, it's free and it's completely confidential. We are not a part of Centrelink, so people can feel confident that we will give them accurate advice. Give us a call, we can discuss with you the factors that are taken into consideration when they look at whether a same-sex couple is in a de facto relationship. You can go to our website and check out one of our fact sheets. And then ring us and we can discuss it together.

What kinds of issues have people had?

In the lead up to the first of July, a lot of people rang to find out what would happen as a result of the changes. Now we're getting a lot of people who are not sure if they are a member of a couple for Centrelink purposes. You can have a really important person in your life, but they're not necessarily a member of a couple for Centrelink purposes. That might be someone that you care for, you might be the care giver, and they might be the care receiver. What it means to be a member of a couple is strange because it's different to every other area of the law - you can't say that a de facto couple for Centrelink purposes is the same for superannuation, for tax, for property, for family. And that's what makes this are so difficult and so important.

Are there some positive changes?

There are a few positives. For example, if you were a person on youth allowance, a young person or a student, now if you're in a same-sex couple - you may be able to establish what's called independency after 12 months and receive a higher rate of pay. We've also has some clients, where because they've now been treated as a member of a couple, and one of them was on the age pension- the couple's assets and income were counted together and so there was actually more money coming to the couple. One partner received more, one received less, but overall they received more. So there are instances where there have been benefits- I have to emphasise though- that's not the majority of cases, but in the majority of cases, we can at least give independent advice, and there are appeal rights. One third of people who appeal are successful, so we really urge people to find out whether they have rights to appeal and to exercise those rights.

How can people get in touch with Welfare Rights?

People can contact Welfare Rights on our our free call number, 1800 226 028. We've also got a lot of information and a special fact sheet on our website www.welfarerights.org.au

What do you like about your T-Shirt design?

The design's lovely and the heart suits Welfare Rights perfectly. Because while we can't fix everything about the Social Security changes, we can certainly help people work their way through it.

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