19th Mar 2018, 8:55 PM – Senate Social Services Legislation Amendment (Welfare Reform) Bill 2017 - in Committee - Keep schedules unchanged

The majority voted in favour of keeping the following parts of the bill unchanged:

• schedules 3, 4 and 9 to 14
• subsection 42AI(3) in item 1 of schedule 15, and
• schedule 17.

In parliamentary jargon, they voted in favour of a motion that those parts stand as printed.

What is schedule 3?

According to the bills digest:

Schedule 3—Cessation of Wife Pension

Quick guide to Schedule 3

Wife pension is a non-activity tested income support payment paid at Age Pension rates to female partners of Age Pensioners or Disability Support Pensioners who are not eligible for a pension in their own right.

The amendments in Schedule 3 operate to cease the payment entirely. Transitional amendments will allow women who cease receiving Wife Pension to receive an alternative payment, where available.

What is schedule 4?

According to the bills digest:

Schedule 4—Cessation of Bereavement Allowance

Quick guide to Schedule 4

The amendments in Schedule 4 operate so that a person who is qualified for Youth Allowance or Jobseeker Payment will be able to receive a one-off, higher payment if their partner dies, in addition to their regular fortnightly payments.

In addition newly bereaved claimants for Youth Allowance or Jobseeker Payment will be entitled to certain exemptions from existing waiting period requirements.

What is schedule 9?

According to the bills digest:

Schedule 9—Changes to activity tests for persons aged 55–59

Quick guide to Schedule 9

The amendments in Schedule 9 impose a new activity test on Newstart Allowance and certain Special Benefit recipients aged between 55 and 59.

Under the new test the relevant recipients will satisfy the activity test if they are engaged, for at least 30 hours per fortnight, in a combination of approved unpaid voluntary work or suitable paid work, at least 15 hours of which must be suitable paid work.

What is schedule 10?

According to the bills digest:

Schedule 10—Start day for some participation payments

Quick guide to Schedule 10

The measures in Schedule 10 to the Bill provide for the start day for Youth Allowance (other) and Newstart Allowance payments to be the day the applicant attends their initial appointment with their employment services provider (unless an appointment is not able to be scheduled within two business days), rather than the date on which the claim for payment was made.

What is schedule 11?

According to the bills digest:

Schedule 11—Removal of Intent to Claim provisions

Quick guide to Schedule 11

Schedule 11 amends the SSA Act by removing the current deemed claim provisions that allow a claimant to receive payments from the date on which they initially contacted the Department of Human Services.

The rationale for the amendments is that the deeming provisions were introduced at a time when claim forms were mailed to claimants, completed and then returned to Centrelink by mail. With the progressive rollout of online claiming, these provisions are no longer necessary.

What is schedule 12?

According to the bills digest:

Schedule 12—Establishment of a drug testing trial

Quick guide to Schedule 12

The measures in Schedule 12 to the Bill provide for a two-year trial in three regions involving mandatory drug testing for 5,000 new recipients of Newstart Allowance and Youth Allowance (other).

What is schedule 13?

According to the bills digest:

Schedule 13—Removal of exemptions for drug or alcohol dependence

Quick guide to Schedule 13

The amendments in Schedule 13:

• establish a new category of income support recipient—being a declared program recipient—that is, someone who is a participant in an employment services program specified in a determination (an alcohol and/or other drug treatment program) and
• removing exemptions from the mutual obligation requirements where the reason for the exemption is wholly or predominantly attributable to the person’s dependence on alcohol or another drug, unless the job seeker is a participant in an employment services program to be specified in a determination—that is, an alcohol and/or other drug treatment program.

What is schedule 14?

According to the bills digest:

Schedule 14—Changes to reasonable excuses

Quick guide to Schedule 14

Schedule 14 amends the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 to enable the Secretary to determine by legislative instrument matters that he, or she, must not take into account in deciding whether or not a job seeker has a reasonable excuse for committing a compliance failure.

What is subsection 42AI(3) in item 1 of schedule 15?

According to the bills digest:

Proposed Sections 42AI and 42AJ set out the reasonable excuse arrangements that apply to the new compliance failures. Proposed Section 42AI stipulates that the Secretary must by legislative instrument determine the matters that must be taken into account and not taken into account in deciding whether a job seeker has a reasonable excuse for committing a mutual obligation or work refusal failure.

What is schedule 17?

According to the bills digest:

Schedule 17—Information management

Quick guide to Schedule 17

The amendments in Schedule 17 relate to the information gathering and protection provisions in the family assistance law, PPL Act, social security law and Student Assistance Act. They aim to:

• allow information or documents obtained about a person under the coercive information gathering provisions in the course of an administrative action, to be used in subsequent investigation and prosecution of criminal offences and
• insert limited abrogation of the privilege against self-incrimination provisions.