Commonwealth of Australia Explanatory Memoranda Commonwealth of Australia Explanatory Memoranda[Index] [Search] [Download] [Bill] [Help]
2016-2017
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
SENATE
SOCIAL SECURITY AMENDMENT (CARING FOR PEOPLE ON NEWSTART)
BILL 2017
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of Senator Siewert)
SOCIAL SECURITY AMENDMENT (CARING FOR PEOPLE ON
NEWSTART) BILL 2017
OUTLINE
The purpose of the Social Security Amendment (Caring for People on Newstart) Bill 2017 is
to provide additional financial assistance to Newstart and Youth Allowance recipients to
assist in alleviating poverty and to help people to more effectively access employment.
The Bill:
increases the single rates of Newstart by $110 a fortnight;
increases the single independent rates of Youth Allowance by $110 a fortnight; and
provides the same indexation arrangements for certain pensions and allowances, being
the higher of CPI (Consumer Price Index), MTAWE (Male Total Average Weekly
Earnings) or pensioner and beneficiary living cost index amount.
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1: Short Title
1. Clause 1 is a formal provision specifying the short title of the Bill.
Clause 2: Commencement
2. This clause provides for sections 1 to 3 of the Act to commence on the day it
receives Royal Assent and Schedule 1 of the Act to commence 28 days after it receives Royal
Assent.
Clause 3: Schedules
3. Each Act specified in a Schedule to this Act is amended or repealed as is set out in
the applicable items in the Schedule. Any other item in a Schedule to this Act has effect
according to its terms.
Schedule 1--Amendments
Part 1 - Newstart amendments
Social Security Act 1991
Item 1
6. This item inserts an additional step into the method statement at point 1068-A1 of the
Act. This item is a consequential amendment to item 2.
Item 2
7. This item inserts a new Module CA into the Social Security Act 1991 after point
1068-C4 providing for a Newstart supplement payment. The Newstart supplement payment is
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$110 a fortnight paid to a person who is qualified for the Newstart Allowance and who is
single, a member of an illness separated couple or a partnered couple where one of the
partners is in gaol.
Part 2 - Youth allowance amendments
Social Security Act 1991
Items 3 to 9
8. These items amend the table in point 1067G-B3 of the Social Security Act 1991 to
increase the amounts in column 3 items 1-6 and 8 by $110. These amendments implement a
$110 a fortnight increase to the maximum basic rates for independent, single recipients of
Youth Allowance.
Items 10 and 11
9. These items amend the table in point 1067G-B4 of the Social Security Act 1991 to
increase the amounts in column 3 items 3 and 4 by $110. These amendments implement a
$110 a fortnight increase to the maximum basic rates for independent, single, long term
income support student recipients of Youth Allowance.
Part 3 - Indexation amendments
Social Security Act 1991
Item 12
10. This item inserts a new row to the table in section 1190 to include reference to the
additional Newstart supplement being a payment that is indexed.
Item 13
11. This item inserts a new row to the table in subsection 1191(1) to include a reference to
the additional Newstart supplement being a payment that is indexed to CPI.
Item 14
12. This item inserts a new section 1195A providing certain pension and allowance
payments to be indexed the same, being the higher of CPI, MTAWE or pensioner and
beneficiary living cost index amount.
Subsection (1) lists the pension and allowance payments to be indexed by reference to the
payments listed in section 1191.
Subsection (2) provides the method statement for determining the indexation for the
payments listed in subsection (1). The method is to determine the CPI indexed amount in
accordance with section 1192, and to determine the MTAWE indexed amount applying the
rules in section 1195, and to determine the pensioner and beneficiary living cost index
amount in accordance with section 1196. The indexed amount is then the highest of those
three amounts.
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Part 4 - Other amendments
Social Security (Administration) Act 1999
Items 15 and 16
13. These items confirm that payments made as a result of this Bill cannot be made until
Parliament has made an appropriation for that purpose.
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Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Social Security Amendment (Caring for People on Newstart) Bill 2017
This Bill is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the
international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny)
Act 2011.
Overview of the Bill
The Bill:
increases the single rates of Newstart by $110 a fortnight;
increases the single independent rates of Youth Allowance by $110 a fortnight; and
provides the same indexation arrangements for certain pensions and allowances, being
the higher of CPI, MTAWE or pensioner and beneficiary living cost index amount.
Human rights implications
The Bill engages the following human rights:
Right to social security
Article 9 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)
recognises the right of everyone to social security.
The Bill will promote the right to social security by increasing the amount of financial
support for certain recipients of Newstart and Youth Allowance and providing more
appropriate indexation for other social security basic payment rates.
The focus on singles is based on evidence that these households are the most at risk of
poverty. The ACOSS report Poverty in Australia 2016 found that single people generally
faced a significantly higher risk of poverty than couples (24.6% to 10.1%) while 33.2% of
single parent families are living in poverty compared with 11.3% of couples with children.
This reflects in part the economies of scale available to people living with partners. This
focus is therefore aimed at a legitimate objective, and is reasonable, necessary and
proportionate to achieving that objective.
Conclusion
This Bill is compatible with human rights because it generally advances human rights and to
the extent that it may limit human rights, those limitations are reasonable, necessary and
proportionate.
Senator Rachel Siewert
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