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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-04-04 Daily Xml
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MEDICAL HEATING AND COOLING CONCESSION

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:17): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Social Housing a question about the medical heating and cooling concession.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: The government introduced the medical heating and cooling concession to assist people living with specific medical conditions with their energy costs. The minister addressed a question about the scheme from the Hon. Stephen Wade as well as the Hon. John Gazzola recently. In his answers, the minister advised the house that from 9 March 2012 there were approximately 2,705 telephone inquiries and 1,622 applications.

This is a dramatic increase from the minister's initial response on 15 February, where the department had received 1,750 telephone inquiries and only 600 applications. Since the scheme became operational on 1 January, the department has only approved 134 of the 1,622 applications. That is 8 per cent successful applications in four months. My questions to the minister are:

1. Can the minister advise what the average waiting time is for applicants from making their application to having a determination made on their eligibility?

2. How many applicants are still waiting for an assessment?

3. For those who are eligible, how will the minister ensure the applications are approved in an appropriate and timely manner?

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (Minister for Communities and Social Inclusion, Minister for Social Housing, Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Youth, Minister for Volunteers) (15:19): I thank the honourable member for her most important three questions. As I said previously, on 20 December 2011 I launched the medical heating and cooling concession, which was announced in the state budget, where cabinet approved $1.8 million over four years to provide assistance to people on low incomes who incur high energy costs because of their medical need to use an air conditioner on a frequent and/or prolonged basis. The medical heating and cooling concession is administered by the Department for Communities and Social Inclusion and commenced in January. It provides $158 per year backdated to 1 July and will increase to $165 per year on 1 July 2012.

I have previously given those answers to the Hon. Ms Lee's questions in response to a question from the Hon. Mr Wade in regard to the number of applications received and the number of applications that have been processed. In response to the Hon. Ms Lee's questions regarding the average waiting time for an applicant, how many people are waiting for an assessment and what I would consider to be an appropriate and timely manner for those things to be approved, I will take that on notice to bring back a response at a later stage.

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