Bill
Social Security Legislation Amendment (Stronger Penalties for Serious Failures) Bill 2014
lapsed, as at 2014-09-03. Employment portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Employment
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2014-06-04
- second reading — 2014-06-04
- second reading — 2014-07-16
- second reading — 2014-07-17
- second reading — 2014-07-17
- third reading — 2014-07-17
- introduced — 2014-07-17
- second reading — 2014-07-17
- second reading — 2014-08-28
- second reading — 2014-09-02
- second reading — 2014-09-03
- second reading — 2014-09-03
Divisions
- Melissa Price As I was saying yesterday, the Australian people expect their taxpayer dollars to go towards policy measures that improve our communities and benefit Australia as a whole. In its current form, the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 fails to meet this expectation and its own objectives to ensure compliance measures are met at all times by those who receive income support. The amendments before the House today will significantly strengthen our employment welfare system and its intention for resources to be used efficiently and effectively. This is part of the Abbott government's overall strategy to build a stronger Australia, and to do this we need a skilled workforce, with everyone who has the ability to work contributing to its growth and prosperity. In the budget, this government outlined key policy measures relating to job seekers including its new Work for the Dole program. The amendments before us today will go hand-in-hand with these policy measures to help young job seekers in particular move out of the welfare system and into gainful employment. This will benefit not only job seekers in the long term but their community and the nation as a whole. Under recent changes, job seekers aged 18-30 who have been unemployed for 12 months or more and receiving taxpayer-funded assistance from a Job Services Australia provider will be required to participate in work for the dole activities for 15 hours per week for six months, unless they are working part time. From 1 July next year, all job seekers aged 18-30 and in receipt of Newstart allowance and Youth Allowance will be required to undertake work for the dole for 25 hours per week when in receipt of payment. These rules will apply to new income support recipients with a full work capacity and who are not in education or a part-time apprenticeship. Alternative arrangements will apply to job seekers with a partial work capacity, significant barriers to employment or parent carer responsibilities. T — 2014-07-17, House of Representatives: affirmative, ayes 79, noes 51
- Catryna Bilyk As I was saying last night, before I had to cease my contribution, the restriction of waivers will disproportionately impact on some of the most vulnerable people in our society. These are the people we should reach out a hand to and support—people with mental illness and people experiencing homeless. They are the people who I am very concerned to hear appear to have been described by Joe Hockey as 'leaners'. This government does not understand the challenges faced by the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people in our community. They are completely out of touch with what goes on out there in the real world, or, even worse, they might understand it but they just do not care. They are quite happy for the most vulnerable unemployed Australians to be the collateral damage in a cruel and heartless scapegoating exercise. It is important for a strong mutual obligation system that we have both the carrot and the stick systems—a system of penalties for failing to comply, accompanied by help and incentives to engage with the employment support system. This is why the waivers are so important. When there is a serious failure, the waivers allow the department to consider individual circumstances and whether applying the penalty would be appropriate. The department can consider whether the job seeker has the capacity to comply with the serious failure requirement and whether applying the penalty would cause them serious financial hardship. Also, the job seeker has an opportunity and an incentive to re-engage with the system and return to actively seeking work. What the Abbott government wants to introduce is a system that is cruel and inflexible. There is no argument from this side of the chamber that people should be penalised in some way if they steadfastly refuse to engage in finding suitable employment, or if they do not bother to make any reasonable effort. But, having any restriction on the number of waivers that are applied to eight-week penalties is just p — 2014-09-03, Senate: negative, ayes 29, noes 36
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