16th Feb 2017, 7:26 PM – Senate Parliamentary Entitlements Legislation Amendment Bill 2017 - in Committee - Increase penalty loading

The majority voted against an amendment introduced by Senator Nick Xenophon (SA), which means it was unsuccessful.

There was one rebel voter in this division: Liberal Senator Ian Macdonald (Qld). Senator Macdonald voted Yes against the majority of the Liberal Party. Voting against your own party is know as crossing the floor.

What was the amendment?

Senator Xenophon explained that:

This amendment provides for a loading. Then, if you breach the rules, if you make a claim for a payment that you should not have made, you are liable to pay at least double the amount to which the section applies ...

... In other words, if you are a repeat offender, you pay more, just like other laws that are enforced, whether it is traffic offences or other offences. If you are a repeat offender, you should pay more ...

...The current penalty of a 25 per cent loading is akin to being slapped with a piece of wet lettuce leaf. It is not effective. There is nothing like a financial penalty, given human nature, to keep people on their toes to make sure they comply. That is why this amendment is so important.

Amendment text

(1) Schedule 2, item 7, page 23 (lines 31 to 33), omit subsection 10C(4), substitute:

(4) The recipient is liable to pay the Commonwealth, by way of penalty for the contravention of section 7A (the current contravention), an amount equal to:

(a) if the recipient has not contravened that section, or has contravened that section once, during the period of 12 months immediately preceding the day on which the claim to which the current contravention relates is made—200% of the amount to which this section applies; or

(b) if the recipient has contravened that section 2 or more times during the period of 12 months immediately preceding the day on which the claim to which the current contravention relates is made—400% of the amount to which this section applies.