Bills Digest no. 89 2009–10
Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Income
Support for Students) Bill 2009 [No. 2]
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
introduced and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest
does not have any official legal status. Other sources should be
consulted to determine the subsequent official status of the
Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage history
Purpose
Background
Main provisions
Contact officer & copyright details
Passage history
Social Security and Other Legislation
Amendment (Income Support for Students) Bill 2009 [No.
2]
Date introduced: 25 November 2009
House: House
of Representatives
Portfolio: Employment and Workplace Relations
Commencement: Sections 1 to 3 on Royal Assent. All other
provisions commence on 1 January 2010 except for Divisions 3 and 4
in Part 2 of Schedule 1 which commence on 1 July 2012. Schedule 3
commences on 1 July 2009 following the commencement of Schedule 1
to the Social Security Amendment (Training Incentives) Act
2009.
Links: The
relevant links to the Bill, Explanatory Memorandum and second
reading speech can be accessed via BillsNet, which is at http://www.aph.gov.au/bills/.
When Bills have been passed they can be found at ComLaw, which is
at http://www.comlaw.gov.au/.
To
reform student income support to make higher education more
accessible in response to the Review of Higher Education conducted
by Emeritus Professor Denise Bradley.
The background to the policy issues
raised in this Bill and the history of Youth Allowance have been
extensively covered in the Bills
digest for the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment
(Income Support for Students) Bill 2009 (the original
Bill).[1] The
original Bill was not passed by the Senate and remained in the
committee stage of debate when the Senate rose for the summer
recess.[2] The Senate
disagreed to the motion to adopt the report of the Committee of the
Whole on 24 November 2009.[3]
All non-government senators had concerns about the impact of the
changes to the independence criteria for Youth Allowance contained
in the original Bill. The Government rejected certain amendments
that were agreed by the Senate that sought to:
- extend the period during which the savings provisions applied,
for those affected by the changes to the independence criteria, by
six months to the end of 2010
- extend those savings provisions to all students affected who
left secondary education in 2008 and
- permanently preserve access to qualification for independent
status through the part-time work for students who are required to
live away from home to study.[4]
When the Senate considered the rejection of their amendments by
the House of Representatives there was insufficient support for
insisting on the Senate amendments (the vote was a tied vote). The
Australian Greens and Senator Xenophon had negotiated an
alternative set of amendments with the Government. Those amendments
were the same as the changes incorporated in this new Bill.
However the Coalition senators and Senator Fielding were
unwilling to accept the new amendments and they were not passed
(the Senate vote was again tied).
The Government decided to introduce this present Bill into the
House of Representatives on the following day. It contains the same
package of measures that were presented to the Parliament in the
original Bill with changes to reflect the Senate amendments agreed
upon by the Government and the amendments negotiated between the
Government and the Australian Greens and Senator Xenophon.
The differences between the original Bill and the present
Bill are as follows:
- savings provisions for gap year students affected by the
changes to the independence criteria concerning workforce
participation were changed. Students who left secondary school in
2008 would have until 31 December 2010 to commence a tertiary
course rather than the original limit of 30 June 2010. Students who
were not required to leave home to attend the course of their
choice could also qualify. However a family income limit of $150
000 per annum was added for this group to target the savings
provisions to lower and middle income families
- the amount of the proposed Student Start Up Scholarship was
halved in 2010 to ensure that the package of changes in the Bill
remained revenue neutral taking account of the added cost from the
new savings provisions for gap year students
- the package of changes would be reviewed in 2012, and
- the remaining workforce participation criterion for independent
status would be adjusted to require an average of 30 hours per week
of employment rather than ‘at least’ 30 hours per week
of employment.[5]
In addition to these changes the Government has undertaken to
set up a taskforce looking at issues of participation and
attainment by regional students in tertiary education to report by
the end of 2010.
The proposed amendments to the original Bill will be examined in
further detail below. For an explanation of the other original
provisions see the Bills
digest for the original Bill.
Proposed new section 4 requires that a review
of the impact of the measures in this Bill commence by 30 June
2012. It should pay particular attention to its impact on rural and
regional students. The report must be completed within three months
and be presented to Parliament within 15 sitting days of the
Minister receiving it.
Item 2 of Schedule 1 amends paragraph
1067A(10)(a) of the Social Security Act 1991. This
paragraph contains the remaining workforce participation
requirement for gaining independent status. At present a person is
required to have worked for at least 30 hours per week for the
relevant period to qualify. The amendment would change that to an
average of 30 hours per week to allow for situations where working
hours vary from week to week.
Item 3 of Schedule 1 inserts
proposed new subsection
1067A(10C). This subsection contains the savings
provisions for people affected by the changes to the independence
criteria contained in new subsections 1067A(10A) and
(10B).
Proposed paragraphs (d) and (f)
of new subsection 1067(10C) have
been amended to allow people affected by these savings provisions
to start a tertiary course at any time during 2010 and still be
able to claim independent status. The original Bill only gave them
until 30 June 2010 to start such a course.
Proposed paragraph (e) of new
subsection 1067(10C) has also been amended. The original
Bill allowed the savings provisions to apply only to students who
were required to live away from home to study. The need to live
away from home was measured by whether the student faced excessive
travel times if they lived at home. The Guide to Social Security
Law provides the detail of what constitutes excessive travel
time:
‘For the purposes of YA, excessive travelling time is
where the time it takes for the young person to travel by public
transport from their parent's home to an approved activity, exceeds
90 minutes including walking and waiting times. Restrictions due to
lack of, or deficiencies in public transport should also be taken
into account. Example: If the only available transport is by bus,
with departure and arrival times too early and too late at 6.00am
and 10.00pm.’ [6]
In this Bill the eligibility for the savings provisions has been
broadened to allow people who do not meet the need to live away
from home test to qualify provided their parental income does not
exceed $150 000 per annum.
Item 3 of Schedule 1 also inserts
proposed subsection 1067A(10D) into the Social
Security Act 1991. It sets out the base tax year for the purposes
of proposed subsection 1067A(10C) to limit the savings
provision.
Item 4 of Schedule 2 provides
for the introduction of the Student Start Up Scholarship.
Proposed new section 592H
specifies the amount of the scholarship to be paid. The original
Bill specified that an amount of $1127 would be paid. This Bill
provides for this amount to be reduced to $717 in 2010 and for the
amount to increase to $1127 in 2011 (to be indexed annually
thereafter). This change is to ensure that the package of changes
in the Bill remained revenue neutral taking account of the added
cost from the new savings provisions for gap year students.
[1]. L Buckmaster, D Daniels and C Dow,
Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Income Support
for Students) Bill 2009, Bills digest, no. 42, 2009–10,
Parliamentary Library, Canberra, 2009, viewed 6 January 2010,
http://www.aph.gov.au/Library/pubs/bd/2009-10/10bd042.pdf
[2]. The Senate Bills List notes that the
original Bill passed the Senate on 17 November 2009 with a caveat:
Australia, Senate, Bills List, as at 15 December 2009,
viewed 6 January 2010,
http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/billslst/billslst_c5cb7dfd-6ea5-42d2-bea7-a4c40e628ce8/upload_pdf/Bills%20List%202009.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22legislation/billslst/billslst_c5cb7dfd-6ea5-42d2-bea7-a4c40e628ce8%22
[3]. Ibid.
[4]. Schedule of amendments made by the
Senate to which the House of Representatives has disagreed, Social
Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Income Support for
Students) Bill 2009, 18 November 2009, viewed 23 January
2010,
http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/sched/r4193_sched_3292085e-dcc4-43f9-bc43-e10383fc5fb6/upload_pdf/SocSec%20and%20OLA(IncSuppforStudents)09.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf
[5]. J Gillard MP (Minister for
Education), ‘Second Reading Speech: Social Security and Other
Legislation Amendment (Income Support For Students) Bill
2009’, House of Representatives, Debates, 25
November 2009, pp. 12891–12895.
[6]. Department of Families, Housing,
Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, ‘Guide to the
Social Security Law’, (1,1,E,150), viewed 19 October
2009,
http://www.facs.gov.au/guides_acts/ssg/ssguide-1/ssguide-1.1/ssguide-1.1.e/ssguide-1.1.e.150.html
Dale Daniels
29 January 2010
Bills Digest Service
Parliamentary Library
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