Kevin Andrews voted very strongly for tighter means testing of family payments

The majority voted to agree with the bill. The House will now decide whether to pass the bill, which will be the final stage the bill must pass through and is known in parliamentary jargon as the third reading stage.

What does the bill do?

The purpose of this bill is to make savings for the government in the social services sector (social welfare etc).

According to the bill's homepage, it was introduced to:

• pause for three years the indexation of various income thresholds that apply to certain social security benefits and allowances and the income test free area for parenting payment single
• extend the ordinary waiting period to youth allowance (other) and parenting payment
• include additional evidentiary requirements for the ‘severe financial hardship’ exemption from the ordinary waiting period
• remove the ability for claimants to serve the ordinary waiting period concurrently with other waiting periods
• enable automation of the regular income stream review process; and
• maintain the standard family tax benefit (FTB) child rates for two years, from 1 July 2017, in the maximum and base rate of FTB Part A and the maximum rate of FTB Part B.

The majority voted to agree with the main idea of the bill. In parliamentary jargon they voted to read the bill for a second time.

The House will now discuss the bill in more detail.

What is the bill's main idea?

The purpose of this bill is to make savings for the government in the social services sector (social welfare etc).

According to the bill's homepage, it was introduced to:

• pause for three years the indexation of various income thresholds that apply to certain social security benefits and allowances and the income test free area for parenting payment single
• extend the ordinary waiting period to youth allowance (other) and parenting payment
• include additional evidentiary requirements for the ‘severe financial hardship’ exemption from the ordinary waiting period
• remove the ability for claimants to serve the ordinary waiting period concurrently with other waiting periods
• enable automation of the regular income stream review process; and
• maintain the standard family tax benefit (FTB) child rates for two years, from 1 July 2017, in the maximum and base rate of FTB Part A and the maximum rate of FTB Part B.

The majority voted against a motion introduced by Labor MP Jenny Macklin against the bill, which means it failed.

The motion effectively asked the House of Representatives to reject the bill's main idea. In parliamentary jargon, it asked the House to refuse to give the bill a second reading.

What is the bill's main idea?

The purpose of this bill is to make savings for the government in the social services sector (social welfare etc).

According to the bill's homepage, it was introduced to:

• pause for three years the indexation of various income thresholds that apply to certain social security benefits and allowances and the income test free area for parenting payment single
• extend the ordinary waiting period to youth allowance (other) and parenting payment
• include additional evidentiary requirements for the ‘severe financial hardship’ exemption from the ordinary waiting period
• remove the ability for claimants to serve the ordinary waiting period concurrently with other waiting periods
• enable automation of the regular income stream review process; and
• maintain the standard family tax benefit (FTB) child rates for two years, from 1 July 2017, in the maximum and base rate of FTB Part A and the maximum rate of FTB Part B.

Motion text

That all the words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"The House:

(1) declines to give the bill a second reading because it includes cuts to Family Tax Benefit that will leave 1.5 million families worse off, freezes income free areas for 264,500 recipients of income support and student payments, and forces young people and single parents to wait one week to access income support; and

(2) calls on the government to drop their unfair cuts to families and vulnerable Australians on very low incomes.

The majority voted in favour of a motion to agree to the amendments made in the Senate,(Read more about the amendments here. ) which means that the bill will now become law. This is because the Senate had agreed to the bill, subject to their amendments being accepted by the House of Representatives, which had previously agreed to the bill.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. )

Background to the bill

This bill was introduced following the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013 (No. 2) being laid aside because it could not "be progressed in its current form".(Read more about this bill being set aside here. The division which resulted in that bill being laid aside is available here. )

This bill repeals the Minerals Resource Rent Tax as well as related measures such as the low income superannuation contribution, the income support bonus and the schoolkids bonus. The bill also revises the capital allowances for small business entities and the superannuation guarantee charge percentage increase.(Read more about the changes made in the bill in the explanatory memorandum. ) Under the previous Labor government, the superannuation was set to increase to 12 per cent by 2019 (as of 1 July 2014, it is at 9.5 per cent).(Read more about superannuation in Australia here.) However, this bill will push that rise up until 1 July 2025.

The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill for a third time.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. ) This means that the bill is passed in the House of Representatives and that it will now be sent to the Senate for their consideration.

Background to the bill

This bill was introduced following the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013 (No. 2) being laid aside because it could not "be progressed in its current form".(Read more about this bill being set aside here. The division which resulted in that bill being laid aside is available here. )

This bill repeals the Minerals Resource Rent Tax as well as related measures such as the low income superannuation contribution, the income support bonus and the schoolkids bonus. The bill also revises the capital allowances for small business entities and the superannuation guarantee charge percentage increase.(Read more about the changes made in the bill in the explanatory memorandum. ) Under the previous Labor government, the superannuation was set to increase to 12 per cent by 2019 (as of 1 July 2014, it is at 9.5 per cent).(Read more about superannuation in Australia here.) However, this bill will push that rise up until 1 July 2025.

The majority voted in favour of a motion to agree to the bill.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. ) This means that the majority agreed with the bill and that the House of Representatives can now decide on whether to read the bill for a third time and therefore pass it in the House.

Background to the bill

This bill was introduced following the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013 (No. 2) being laid aside because it could not "be progressed in its current form".(Read more about this bill being set aside here. The division which resulted in that bill being laid aside is available here. )

This bill repeals the Minerals Resource Rent Tax as well as related measures such as the low income superannuation contribution, the income support bonus and the schoolkids bonus. The bill also revises the capital allowances for small business entities and the superannuation guarantee charge percentage increase.(Read more about the changes made in the bill in the explanatory memorandum. ) Under the previous Labor government, the superannuation was set to increase to 12 per cent by 2019 (as of 1 July 2014, it is at 9.5 per cent).(Read more about superannuation in Australia here.) However, this bill will push that rise up until 1 July 2025.

The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill for a second time.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. ) This means that the majority agreed with the main idea of the bill and that the House can now discuss it in more detail.

Background to the bill

This bill was introduced following the Minerals Resource Rent Tax Repeal and Other Measures Bill 2013 (No. 2) being laid aside because it could not "be progressed in its current form".(Read more about this bill being set aside here. The division which resulted in that bill being laid aside is available here. )

This bill repeals the Minerals Resource Rent Tax as well as related measures such as the low income superannuation contribution, the income support bonus and the schoolkids bonus. The bill also revises the capital allowances for small business entities and the superannuation guarantee charge percentage increase.(Read more about the changes made in the bill in the explanatory memorandum. ) Under the previous Labor government, the superannuation was set to increase to 12 per cent by 2019 (as of 1 July 2014, it is at 9.5 per cent).(Read more about superannuation in Australia here.) However, this bill will push that rise up until 1 July 2025.

The majority voted in favour of a motion to read these bills a third time.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. ) This means that the majority agree with the bills and want to pass them in the House of Representatives. The bills will now be sent to the Senate for their consideration.

Background to the bills

The Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (2014 Budget Measures No. 1) Bill 2014 and the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (2014 Budget Measures No. 2) Bill 2014 were introduced to implement a number of budget measures. These measures include pausing indexation on certain government payments, ceasing certain payments and changing the requirements for certain payments.(Read about these changes in more detail in the explanatory memorandum for the former bill (2014 Budget Measures No. 1) here and latter bill (2014 Budget Measures No. 2) here. )

Although several of these welfare measure were to become effective from 1 July 2014, Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews has said that it is unlikely that they will pass through Parliament by then.(See ABC News for more information.) In the meantime, the government payments will continue unchanged.

The majority voted in favour of a motion to agree to the bills.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. ) This means that the majority agree with the bills as they stand during the consideration in detail stage and will now decide whether to read them for a third time and therefore pass them in the House of Representatives.

Background to the bills

The Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (2014 Budget Measures No. 1) Bill 2014 and the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (2014 Budget Measures No. 2) Bill 2014 were introduced to implement a number of budget measures. These measures include pausing indexation on certain government payments, ceasing certain payments and changing the requirements for certain payments.(Read about these changes in more detail in the explanatory memorandum for the former bill (2014 Budget Measures No. 1) here and latter bill (2014 Budget Measures No. 2) here. )

Although several of these welfare measure were to become effective from 1 July 2014, Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews has said that it is unlikely that they will pass through Parliament by then.(See ABC News for more information.) In the meantime, the government payments will continue unchanged.

The majority voted in favour of a motion to read these bills a second time.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. ) This means that the majority agree with the main idea of the bills and that the House will not discuss them in more detail.

Background to the bills

The Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (2014 Budget Measures No. 1) Bill 2014 and the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (2014 Budget Measures No. 2) Bill 2014 were introduced to implement a number of budget measures. These measures include pausing indexation on certain government payments, ceasing certain payments and changing the requirements for certain payments.(Read about these changes in more detail in the explanatory memorandum for the former bill (2014 Budget Measures No. 1) here and latter bill (2014 Budget Measures No. 2) here. )

Although several of these welfare measure were to become effective from 1 July 2014, Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews has said that it is unlikely that they will pass through Parliament by then.(See ABC News for more information.) In the meantime, the government payments will continue unchanged.