17th Jun 2020, 7:20 PM – Senate Regulations and Determinations - Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Payments and Benefits) Amendment Rules (No. 2) 2020 - Disallow higher education provisions

The majority of senators voted against the question "that items 5 to 7 of schedule 1 of the rules be disallowed." This means the attempt to disallow the items - which would have stopped them from being law - failed and they will remain in effect.

What are items 5 to 7 of schedule 1?

5 Paragraph 8(7)(a)

Before “the”, insert “unless paragraph (aa) applies—”.

6 After paragraph 8(7)(a)

Insert:

(aa) if the entity is a Table A provider or a Table B provider—the turnover test period must be the period of 6 months starting on 1 January 2020; and

7 After paragraph 8(8)(e)

Insert:

(ea) for an entity that is a Table A provider or a Table B provider—subsection 9‑17(3) of the GST Act is to be disregarded in its application to a payment covered by an appropriation under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 or the Australian Research Council Act 2001;

These items exclude from JobKeeper many people who work for the higher education sector. NSW Senator Tony Sheldon (Labor), who introduced this disallowance motion, gave the following explanation:

The higher education sector, a sector that employs roughly 260,000, may, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, see some 21,000 workers unemployed. These workers include cleaners, security staff, caterers and administrators working across Australia's universities, and the academics, the many that teach so many important people across the economy ... These workers have done nothing wrong and yet the government has now on three occasions changed the regulations to make it impossible for universities to meet the thresholds for JobKeeper, depriving these hardworking Australians of the support they need during this shutdown.