Bill

Social Services Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2015

passed, as at 2016-05-05. Social Services portfolio.

Sponsor

Not recorded

Portfolio

Social Services

Recorded stages

• introduced — 2015-12-02

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• second reading — 2015-12-02

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• second reading — 2016-02-10

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• second reading — 2016-02-10

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• third reading — 2016-02-10

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• introduced — 2016-02-22

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• second reading — 2016-02-22

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• other — 2016-04-17

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• other — 2016-05-02

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• second reading — 2016-05-04

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• second reading — 2016-05-04

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• second reading — 2016-05-04

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• committee — 2016-05-04

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• third reading — 2016-05-04

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• other — 2016-05-04

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• passed — 2016-05-04

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• royal assent — 2016-05-05

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Divisions

• Rachel Siewert The Australian Greens oppose schedule 1 in the following terms, noting that it is the same as the opposition's amendment: (1) Schedule 1, page 3 (lines 1 to 13), to be opposed. The opposition and the Greens have the same amendment about special benefit and we have both signalled that we do not support schedule 1. Claire Moore As it is the same amendment, as long as that segment comes out of it, we do not care who owns the amendment. Rachel Siewert Just to be clear on this, this is the schedule that I spoke about during my second reading contribution, which is why I am not going to revisit the issues. This is about the income maintenance period, and I articulated why people are so concerned about that and the adverse impact on people if they cannot access this as a last resort safety net payment. The CHAIRMAN: The question is that schedule 1 stand as printed. Question negatived. The Australian Greens oppose schedule 3 in the following terms: (2) Schedule 3, page 9 (line 1) to page 10 (line 22), to be opposed. As I articulated in my second reading contribution, the Greens do not support schedule 3, which we think unfairly impacts on students. Again, I indicated during my second reading contribution that the National Union of Students had concerns about this particular amendment. It impacts on students who need to take a different number of subjects and apparently different courses. My colleague Senator Simms very clearly articulated his concerns about the impact that this may have on students. Greens amendment (2) takes out schedule 3, which changes the requirements for study for social security payments. — 2016-05-04, Senate: affirmative, ayes 31, noes 12

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Plain-language summary

Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2015-12-02.

This bill would make minor corrections and clarifications to several social security and family assistance laws.

It would change rules for special benefit, family tax benefit, student payments, and other social services to fix technical errors and remove ambiguities.

The amendments include aligning timeframes for family tax benefit reconciliation and changing how a new apprentice is defined in the Social Security Act.

• Clarify that a person serving an income maintenance period for a mainstream payment cannot receive special benefit.
• Align timeframes for meeting family tax benefit reconciliation conditions.
• Alter the definition of 'new apprentice' to remove the need for a Commonwealth Registration Number and allow the Minister to set requirements by legislative instrument.
• Confirm that only one course of education is considered when assessing full-time or qualifying study for student payments.
• Clarify exemptions from the austudy assets test for people whose partner gets a relevant payment.
• Simplify and consolidate indexation rules for pharmaceutical allowance and correct other technical errors.

People receiving or applying for social security payments and family tax benefit, including students, new apprentices, and those in financial hardship.

Sources

em

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billhome

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frl act

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