Bill
Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021
passed, as at 2021-08-10. Treasury portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Treasury
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2021-08-03
- second reading — 2021-08-03
- second reading — 2021-08-03
- second reading — 2021-08-03
- third reading — 2021-08-03
- introduced — 2021-08-04
- second reading — 2021-08-04
- second reading — 2021-08-04
- second reading — 2021-08-05
- second reading — 2021-08-05
- committee — 2021-08-05
- third reading — 2021-08-05
- other — 2021-08-05
- other — 2021-08-09
- passed — 2021-08-09
- royal assent — 2021-08-10
Divisions
- The same number of senators voted for and against an amendment introduced by ACT Senator [Katy Gallagher](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/act/katy_gallagher) (Labor). Had it been successful, it would have added the words below to the usual [second reading](https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/how-parliament-works/bills-and-laws/making-a-law-in-the-australian-parliament/) motion, which is "*that the bill be read a second time*" - parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill. ### Amendment text > *At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate notes that:* > > *(a) only 15% of Australians are fully vaccinated;* > > *(b) businesses and workers are struggling from lockdowns made necessary by the Government's botched vaccine rollout and the lack of purpose-built quarantine facilities; and* > > *(c) these lockdowns are costing the Australian economy hundreds of millions of dollars every day".* — 2021-08-05, Senate: negative, ayes 14, noes 14
- The majority voted in favour of an [amendment](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?gid=2021-08-05.6.1) introduced by Tasmanian Senator [Nick McKim](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/tasmania/nick_mckim) (Greens). It will add the words below to the usual [second reading](https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/how-parliament-works/bills-and-laws/making-a-law-in-the-australian-parliament/) motion, which is "*that the bill be read a second time*" - parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill. ### Amendment text > *At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate calls on the Treasurer to ensure that rules regarding payments providing financial support to entities prevent payments being made to, or include a mechanism to recover payments from, large companies that are profitable or pay executive bonuses in the same financial year that they receive a payment".* — 2021-08-05, Senate: affirmative, ayes 14, noes 12
- The majority voted against an [amendment](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?id=2021-08-05.4.2) introduced by Tasmanian Senator [Peter Whish-Wilson](https://theyvoteforyou.org.au/people/senate/tasmania/peter_whish-wilson) (Greens). Had it been successful, it would have added the words below to the usual [second reading](https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/how-parliament-works/bills-and-laws/making-a-law-in-the-australian-parliament/) motion, which is "*that the bill be read a second time*" - parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill. ### Amendment text > *At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate is of the opinion that:* > > *(a) people on income support payments, including Jobseeker Payment, Youth Allowance, Disability Support Pension and Carer Payment, continue to be ignored and miss out on additional support during lockdowns;* > > *(b) this bill does nothing to support the estimated 350,000 people (including 50,000 children) in Greater Sydney who are denied access to Covid-19 Disaster Payments despite living on income support of as little as $44 a day;* > > *(c) if we want people to be able to afford to stay home, Covid-19 Disaster Payments must be immediately extended to all people on income support payments;* > > *(d) people who have lost less than 8 hours a week of work continue to be excluded from the Covid-19 Disaster Payment; and* > > *(e) all income support payments should be increased above the poverty line and everyone who has lost work should be given adequate support with access to the full JobKeeper payment rate so that everyone is supported through the pandemic".* — 2021-08-05, Senate: negative, ayes 3, noes 29
- Treasury Laws Amendment (Covid-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021 - in Committee - Publication of COVID-19 payment information — 2021-08-05, Senate: affirmative, ayes 16, noes 12
- The majority voted in favour of a [motion](https://www.openaustralia.org.au/senate/?gid=2021-08-09.27.6) to not insist on its amendments to the bill, after the House of Representatives disagreed with them. This means that the bill can now [be passed](https://peo.gov.au/understand-our-parliament/how-parliament-works/bills-and-laws/making-a-law-in-the-australian-parliament/), as its final form has been agreed to in both Houses of parliament. ### What does the bill do? According to the [bill homepage](https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:legislation/billhome/r6745), the bill was introduced to: * *enable the Treasurer to make rules for economic response payments to provide support to an entity where they are adversely affected by restrictions imposed by a state or territory public health order that is directed at controlling the transmission of COVID-19;* * *enable tax information to be disclosed to Australian government agencies for the purposes of administering COVID-19 business support programs;* * *make payments received by eligible businesses under certain COVID-19 business support programs and Commonwealth COVID-19 disaster payments exempt from income tax; and* * *reinstate a temporary mechanism for ministers to change arrangements relating to meeting information and document requirements under Commonwealth legislation.* — 2021-08-09, Senate: affirmative, ayes 27, noes 8
Plain-language summary
No machine-written summary in this export.
Sources
em
billhome
frl act