Bill

Social Security (Administration) Amendment (Consumer Lease Exclusion) Bill 2015

lapsed, as at 2016-04-15.

Sponsor

Doug Cameron

Portfolio

Not recorded

Recorded stages

• introduced — 2015-06-24

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• second reading — 2015-06-24

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• second reading — 2015-08-20

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• second reading — 2015-09-10

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• second reading — 2015-09-10

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• third reading — 2015-09-10

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• introduced — 2015-09-10

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• second reading — 2015-10-19

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• other — 2016-04-15

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Divisions

• Anne Ruston It gives me great pleasure to rise today to continue my remarks in relation to this bill. At the end of my previous contribution on this bill I was talking about changes the government has already made to Centrepay which we believe need to have the opportunity to take effect before we start launching into anything new. There is no doubt that Centrepay is an extremely valuable bill paying service that helps very many Centrelink customers manage their ongoing expenses. In May this year the government announced changes to Centrepay which we think are going to go a long way to protecting the most vulnerable Centrelink customers. The changes that have been put forward mean that Centrepay no longer supports consumer leases that are not regulated by the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009. Senator Cameron wanted us to ban all consumer leases from being able to be paid through Centrepay. Instead the government took a more responsible approach and said, 'Let's ensure that any consumer leases that are available are regulated by what would otherwise be a normal regulation that every other consumer in the community would seek to have regulated.' That was instead of a knee-jerk reaction that says anybody who is on Centrelink cannot access their lease payments through Centrepay. The legislative changes are not required to make changes to Centrepay. The government is looking to change and improve outcomes for customers without taking away the important avenue of support for customers with limited options to obtain necessary credit. There is no doubt that many people on Centrelink would not otherwise have access to payment terms because of their lower income and their lack of a credit rating. It is really important that we as a government make responsible decisions to make sure that people who are on Centrelink still do have access to the kind of payment options that everybody else in the community is able to get and not discriminate against them just because t — 2015-09-10, Senate: affirmative, ayes 36, noes 26

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