Bills Digest no. 6 2007–08
Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
Legislation Amendment (Further 2007 Budget Measures) Bill
2007
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
Conclusion
Endnotes
Contact officer & copyright details
Passage history
-
enhancements to the Pension Bonus Scheme
(PBS),
-
improvements and clarification to the
legislation governing the Assurance of Support (AoS) program,
-
expansion of access to the crisis payment for
newly arrived humanitarian entrants,
-
increases in the assets test exemption amounts
for funeral bonds, and
-
expansion of access to the Multiple birth
allowance.
The changes to the PBS presented in
Schedule 1 of the Bill were announced by the
government in the 2007-08 Budget. [1] The changes proposed are:
-
providing the surviving partner of a deceased
member of the PBS with a payment of the PBS bonus accrued up to the
time of death,
-
allowing a top up of the PBS bonus if there is
an increase in the PBS participant s rate of forgone age pension in
the 13 week period after date of claim,
-
allowing the discretion to allow a claim for a
top up of the PBS bonus where the claim for this top up is lodged
more than 13 weeks after date of original claim for the PBS,
and
-
allowing PBS members to take employment related
leave as a non accruing member of the PBS for up to 26 weeks.
The Financial impact statement in the
Explanatory Memorandum details that the expanded access to the PBS
is estimated to cost $9.1 million in 2007-08, $12.0 million in
2008-09, $12.4 million in 2009-10 and $12.9 million in 2010-11.
In announcing the changes to the PBS the
government said the reason for the changes to the PBS was:
This payment and the other 2007-08 Federal Budget
initiatives for older Australians, including changes to the Pension
Bonus Scheme (PBS), will provide greater incentives for older
Australians to invest in their futures. [2]
The PBS has its origins with the passage of
the Social Security and Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment
(Pension Bonus Scheme) Act 1998. [3] The PBS commenced from 1 July 1998. A
person wishing to access the PBS must claim within 13 weeks of
first qualifying for age (or age service) pension.
The PBS is for people who qualify for a
payment of an age pension (or age service pension) but delay taking
payment of the pension while they, or their registered partner,
continue to work for at least 960 hours each year (18.5 hours a
week). These people may than receive a tax free lump sum bonus
payment when they eventually stop working if they claim and receive
age (or age service) pension. Some limitations apply to people over
75 years of age.
Once a person has reached age pension age and
otherwise has an entitlement to a payment of age pension, if they
wish to access the PBS they must make a claim for the PBS bonus.
Persons of pension age otherwise entitled to a payment of age
pension who do not lodge a claim for age pension and the PBS bonus
do not qualify for the PBS.
The amount of PBS bonus is a multiple of the
person s annual rate of basic age pension payable when the pension
is granted. The multiple is made up of the number of qualifying
years the pension has been deferred by the amount of pension
otherwise payable. For example:
If a person s basic annual pension after the
application of the income test was $5 850 and they deferred taking
their age pension under the PBS for 3.526 years, their PBS bonus
would be a calculation of:
$5 850 X (0.094 X 3.526) X the period
deferred of 3.526 = a bonus of $6 836.70.
In an answer to a question on notice from
Senator Chris Evans in Senate 2005-06 Budget Estimates about the
take up of the PBS, the Department of Families and Community
Services and Indigenous Affairs responded:
Answer:
As at 30 December 2005, a total of 95,919 people had registered
with the Pension Bonus Scheme since it commenced in 1998. While the
composition may change over time, 51,790 people are currently
registered in the Scheme with approximately 30 per cent being
single and 70 per cent being partnered. [4]
Not every age pension claimant has a chance of
taking advantage of the PBS. The way the PBS is constructed means
that it is confined to those who already have a substantial
attachment to the workforce upon reaching retirement age, and
intend to continue to undertake substantial work and can afford to
defer receiving payment of the age pension. This means those who
would otherwise be entitled to the maximum rate of pension, or a
substantive rate of pension, due to having a small amount of other
income, are not usually financially able to elect to defer and
access the PBS.
This is probably a common sense enhancement of
the PBS. As can be seen from the answer to the question on notice
above, 70 per cent of PBS applicants are partnered. [5]
This enhancement provides for increased
flexibility in the PBS application. It probably won t affect many
PBS applicants as it would require an applicant to realise an
increase in their rate of age pension otherwise payable (usually
due to a reduction in employment income) in the 13 week period
after claim and yet still qualify to the PBS by meeting the minimum
work requirements. The initiative does increase PBS flexibility but
it is a very minor enhancement in terms of the number of persons
likely to benefit.
The Explanatory Memorandum attached to the
Bill explains this proposed amendment to the PBS provisions in the
SSA is to provide for situations where Centrelink has made a
mistake in calculating the rate of pension otherwise payable and to
allow for the mistake to be corrected. [6] Again, as per the previous amendment to
the PBS arrangements, this would not involve many cases. The
provisions require the correcting amount to be specified in a
Legislative Instrument but this would not be a Disallowable
Instrument that would allow scrutiny by the parliament. [7]
The requirement that the person be engaged in
gainful work does not currently allow a PBS qualifying person to
take leave and still serve a qualifying period for the PBS bonus.
The amendments in Schedule 2 will allow employment
related leave (such as annual leave, sick leave, long service
leave) to be taken for up to 26 weeks. This change will make the
PBS arrangements more flexible.
Schedule 2 presents
amendments to provide improvements to the AoS scheme arrangements
provided under the SSA. This initiative was announced by the
government in the 2007-08 Budget. [8]
The Financial impact statement in the
Explanatory Memorandum details that amendments to the AoS
provisions in the SSA is estimated to cost $5.6 million in 2007-08,
$2.5 million in 2008-09, $2.5 million in 2009-10 and $2.5 million
in 2010-11.
Some categories of Australia's migration
program require an AoS to be approved with the Australian
Government before an application to migrate can be granted. Without
the undertaking of the AoS, the immigrant applicant would not be
otherwise able to gain legal entry to Australia. [9] The AoS is a legal commitment by a
person (not necessarily the sponsor) to support the assuree during
their qualifying period for welfare assistance in Australia. This
qualifying period for a newly arrived migrant of working age is
usually two years. For a newly arrived migrant of age pension age,
the pension qualifying period is ten years, as this is the
residence qualifying period for a person to qualify for age pension
subsection 7(5) of the SSA refers. [10]
The AoS is a commitment to the government to
repay certain welfare payments paid to a migrant during their first
two years (or ten years) after arriving in Australia, (or after the
grant of the relevant visa, whichever happens later). Any welfare
payments made covered by the AoS are a debt against the assuror.
The signing of the AoS enables the welfare costs in the qualifying
period for the immigrant to be met by an Australian permanent
resident or citizen, rather than by the Australian community.
Generally, for a person to be accepted as an
assuror they should be:
-
an Australian citizen, Australian permanent
resident or eligible New Zealand citizen over the age of 18,
-
usually resident in Australia, and
-
financially able to support the
sponsored/nominated person/s and to repay certain welfare payments
should they be made to the person/s covered by the AoS.
An AoS can be provided by a third party who is
not the sponsor/nominator. Individual assurors are limited to
providing an AoS for no more than two adults. It is possible for
two or three people to lodge an AoS for one person (assuree) and
each assuror will be jointly and severally liable for any debt
incurred by the assuree and recovered by Centrelink.
Potential assurors are assessed to ensure that
they are in a financial position to meet the undertaking made in
signing the AoS. They are assessed to ensure that they will be able
to repay to the Australian Government any recoverable payments paid
to the migrant during the first two (or ten) years in Australia.
The intention is to protect potential assurers from financial
hardship in the event that an AoS debt is recovered from them by
the government. Where it is assessed the assuror might not be able
to meet the financial obligation of supporting the assuree and
repaying any debt, the AoS is denied.
An AoS applies to certain visa classes which
require the applicant to be sponsored (or nominated) by an
Australian citizen or permanent resident. An AoS is required (or
mandatory) for applicants in the following visa categories:
-
-
Skilled Designated Area-sponsored,
-
Skilled Australian-sponsored Overseas
Student,
-
Skilled Designated Area-sponsored Overseas
Student,
-
Skilled Australian-sponsored New Zealand
Citizen,
-
Skilled Designated Area-sponsored New Zealand
Citizen,
-
Parent,
-
Aged Parent,
-
Contributory Parent,
-
Contributory Aged Parent,
-
Aged Dependent Relative,
-
Last Remaining Relative, and
-
Carer.
Assurers must lodge a refundable bond of $3
500 (or $5 000 for a couple) for a two year AoS. For a ten year AoS
the bond is $10 000 or $14 000 for a couple. The bond is both a
disincentive to welfare benefit claims in the AoS period and makes
funds available for debt recovery purposes if any welfare payments
are made. The bond is held by the Commonwealth Bank for the two
year (or ten year) AoS period and is released by Centrelink at the
end of that time, less any amount needed to repay any recoverable
welfare payments. [11]
For a newly arrived resident migrant sponsored
into Australia under an AoS, they are to serve the newly arrived
resident waiting period of 2 years before they can qualify for an
income support payment. For persons over age pension age the
qualifying period for the age pension is 10 years.
In exceptional circumstances, special benefit
(SpB) may be payable to the assuree inside the two or ten year
period. However, any payment of SpB in the AoS period is a debt
against the assuror. SpB can only be paid in cases where there has
been unforeseen and substantial change in circumstances of the
assuror, which thereafter means they can no longer honour their
obligations under the AoS.
Residents who have been sponsored into
Australia under an AoS must make every effort to get adequate
support from their assuror before they can qualify for SpB. It is
only in cases where there has been some unforeseen and substantial
change in circumstances, after the AoS was entered into, that now
prevents the assuror from supporting the newly sponsored migrant,
that SpB can be paid. A sponsored resident would have suffered a
substantial change in circumstances if their assuror:
-
died and there is no ongoing financial support
provided for the assuree,
-
started receiving disability support pension or
carer payment or a social security benefit, or would receive the
benefit but for a waiting or deferment period,
-
had been declared bankrupt or has left
Australia permanently or for an indeterminate period that the
delegate considers likely to be longer than three months and the
assuror did not leave provision for ongoing support for the newly
arrived resident,
-
had become a long-term prisoner, or is confined
long-term to a hospital, psychiatric institution or nursing home
and is unable to provide support to the assuree, or
-
has been notified as a missing person who
cannot be located by police.
An AoS assuree would have suffered a
substantial change in circumstances if the business where the
assuree was employed and their place of employment:
An AoS assuree would have suffered a
substantial change in circumstances if they:
-
were a victim of domestic violence and the
abuse is substantiated by documentary evidence from police, an
apprehended violence order or a medical report,
-
find that a confirmed offer of employment,
arranged before their arrival in Australia, has been withdrawn
after they arrive, or
-
were subject to workplace harassment,
sufficient for them to leave the employment, and they cannot obtain
alternative employment.
Under section 1227 of the SSA, where SpB is
paid and an AoS is in place, any amounts of SpB paid to the
sponsored resident (assuree), is a recoverable debt against the
assuror. [12] The
following welfare payments are recoverable as a debt from the
assuror under the AoS scheme:
Substantive changes were made to the
administration of the AoS scheme with the passage of the Family
and Community Services and Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment
(2003 Budget and Other Measures) Act 2003. [13] The Bills Digest provides a more
comprehensive background to the AoS scheme arrangements and the
changes then made to the scheme.
The changes presented in Schedule
2 of the Bill to the AoS provisions in the SSA are largely
improved or clarified wording in the SSA. The provisions do not
present any substantive changes to the existing AoS provisions.
The provisions presented in Schedule
3 of the Bill propose to extend access to the crisis
payment [14] to
newly arrived humanitarian entrants. [15] This initiative was announced by the
government in the 2007-08 Budget. [16]
The Financial impact statement in the
Explanatory Memorandum details that the provision of the crisis
payment to newly arrived humanitarian settlement migrants is
estimated to cost $1.4 million in 2007-08, $1.7 million in 2008-09,
$1.7 million in 2009-10 and $1.7 million in 2010-11.
Crisis payment was introduced from November
1999 to assist people in severe financial hardship. [17] Crisis payment can be
paid in addition to any other welfare payment otherwise payable. As
crisis payment is an extra payment, unlike advance loans and
anticipated payments, it is not recovered from other future
entitlements.
People in Australia for less than
two year cannot access crisis payment
In most cases, to access the crisis payment
the person must have lived in Australia for a total of two years as
an Australian resident to be eligible. This is because crisis
payment is only payable to a person otherwise qualified to receive
an income support payment under the SSA and under section 623A of
the SSA, and newly arrived residents are not entitled to such a
payment for at least the first two years of residency, due to the
newly arrived resident waiting period (two years). [18]
Holders of permanent refugee and humanitarian
visas have a qualifying residence exemption for all payments. That
is, holders of these visas are exempt from all qualifying residence
periods (two or ten years) and the newly arrived residence waiting
period provisions, provided that they continue to reside in
Australia.
While newly arrived migrants that have entered
under a humanitarian visa do not have to serve the normal two year
residence qualifying period to access welfare payments, the first
years in Australia when they are establishing themselves place them
under considerable financial pressure. The proposal to extend
access to the crisis payment to this group for those who have
entered on or after 1 January 2008 is a beneficial change.
The amendments to the SSA presented in
Schedule 4 propose to raise the asset test
exemption limit for funeral investments from $5 000 to $10 000 and
to index this exemption limit to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
This initiative was announced by the government in the 2007-08
Budget. [19]
The Financial impact statement in the
Explanatory Memorandum details that raised exemption limit for
funeral bonds, coupled with the indexation of the limit is
estimated to cost $1.5 million in 2007-08, $1.0 million in 2008-09,
$0.9 million in 2009-10 and $0.9 million in 2010-11.
Some funeral investments are exempt as an
asset under the asset test. An exempt funeral investment is usually
called a funeral bond or funeral fund. Under section 23 of the SSA
(the general definitions section in the SSA), an exempt funeral
investment:
-
is a funeral investment that matures on the
death of the income support recipient or their spouse,
-
does not relate to a funeral to which another
funeral investment or funeral expenses paid in advance
applies,
-
is not able to be redeemed, and
-
has not had more than $5 000 invested in it by
the income support recipient.
[20]
Under current legislation, each member of a
couple may invest up to $5 000 in an exempt funeral investment.
This means that if each member of a couple has an individual
investment of $5 000, then $10 000 is an exempt asset for the
couple. If a couple invest in a joint funeral investment, then the
amount invested must be no more than $5 000 for the funeral
investment to qualify as an exempt funeral investment.
The provisions presented in Schedule
4 will basically double the amount of the exempt funeral
asset applied under the asset test from $5 000 to $10 000 for an
individual, or from $10 000 to $20 000 for a couple.
The government, in announcing the doubling of
the exempt asset test limits for funeral investments, said:
The Federal Budget will also provide further
assistance to older Australians through a $4.3 million measure to
increase the existing social security income and asset test
exemption threshold for funeral bonds from $5,000 to $10,000 for
each person or couple. Mr Brough said the measures built on the
great work the Howard Government has undertaken to assist older
Australians in retirement.
[21]
The small amount of additional expenditure
that this initiative is estimated to cost [22] is an indication that not many
individuals will benefit from this doubling of the asset test
exempt limits for funeral bonds.
The amendments to the A New Tax System
(Family Assistance) Act 1999 (FAA) presented in
Schedule 5 of the Bill will expand access to the
multiple birth allowance to a wider range of dependent children.
Currently multiple birth allowance is only paid where the claimant
has three or more children from the same birth and is paid until
the children turn six years of age. [23]
The proposal to extend access to the multiple
birth allowance was announced in the 2007-08 Budget. [24] The amendments in the
Bill will see payment of multiple birth allowance until the
child/ren turn sixteen, or for full-time students, to the end of
the year in which the child/ren turns eighteen.
The Financial impact statement in the
Explanatory Memorandum details that the expanded access to the
multiple birth allowance is estimated to cost $2.1 million in
2007-08, $2.6 million in 2008-09, $2.6 million in 2009-10 and $2.7
million in 2010-11.
The government, in announcing the expanded
access to the multiple birth allowance, said:
These families face a significantly increased
financial burden as a result of having triplets or greater numbers
of children in one birth. This initiative will be particularly
helpful to families in meeting education costs for their higher
order multiple birth children. Parents of triplets, quads and
quintuplets have told us that the start of school is one of their
most expensive times with the need to purchase school requirements
for three or more children at a time. This extension will help
these families with their children's primary and high school
education.
[25]
Items 1 to 6 make amendments
to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA1997) updating
references to the PBS bereavement payment to ensure it is not
taxable income.
Item 7 amends the SSA to
ensure a PBS bereavement payment is not an asset for the SSA assets
test. Item 24 inserts new provisions into the SSA
to provide for a top up bonus payment of the bonus payable under
the PBS. Item 25 inserts a provision stipulating
the top up bonuses apply to PBS bonuses that have a start date of 1
January 2008 or later.
Item 26 inserts new
provisions to provide for the PBS bonus that has accrued up to the
time of death of the PBS participant (bereavement payment) to be
paid to a surviving partner. Item 27 inserts a
provision stipulating the PBS bereavement payments apply to PBS
participants who die on or after January 2008.
Item 32 inserts new
provisions in to the Social Security (Administration) Act
1999 (SSAA) to provide for the Secretary to develop guidelines
by way of a Legislative Instrument to provide a top up bonus to a
PBS bonus due to special circumstances. Items 33 and
36 insert provisions into the SSAA stipulating that the
top up bonuses that might apply to a PBS bonus payment, applies to
PBS bonuses that have a start date of 1 January 2008 or later.
Item 35 inserts a new provision allowing the
Secretary the discretion to accept a claim for a top up bonus more
than 13 weeks after the original claim for the PBS bonus is made
and in a period to be determined by the Secretary.
Item 37 inserts provisions
setting the general time limit for the lodgement of claim by the
partner for the PBS bereavement payment at 26 weeks after the date
of death of the PBS claimant. However, it also empowers the
Secretary to accept a claim greater than 26 weeks after the date of
death where there are special circumstances.
Items 53 to
96 refer to provisions to be inserted or to be amended in
the Veterans Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA) in respect of the
PBS being about the PBS bonuses and PBS bereavement payments. While
the PBS only applies to age pension provided under the SSA, there
are several payments provided under the VEA that also have PBS
provisions, being the age service pension, the income support
supplement (ISS) [26] and the Defence Force Income Support Allowance (DFISA).
[27] The amendments
to the VEA presented in this part of Schedule 1
mirror those amendments to the SSA for the age pension also in
Schedule 1.
Many of the
provisions for income support payments in both the SSA and the VEA
mirror each other and this parity is maintained to ensure
consistency and equity of treatment between like payments. These
mirrored provisions commonly refer to rates of payment, income
testing, asset testing, indexation of the rates paid and treatment
of compensation income. All of the income support pensions and
allowances provided under the SSA (except for blind pensions) are
income and assets tested. The like income support payments provided
under the VEA, which are also income and assets tested, are the age
service pension, invalidity service pension and ISS.
Much of the amendments to the SSA presented in
Schedule 2 of the Bill are clarification and
better wording of the AoS provisions in the SSA.
Item 2 inserts a new
provision in reference to access to special benefit for the
assuree. It will preclude payment of special benefit where the
assuror can and will provide an adequate level of support and it is
reasonable for the assuree to accept the support. It is not
uncommon for there to develop personal differences between an
assuror and an assuree. This new provision will make it clear that
special benefit cannot be paid where the AoS requirements of
support provision and support acceptance can be reasonably met. For
example, this will make it clear that it will not be an option for
the assuror to no longer provide support if they have developed a
dislike for the assuree. Likewise, for the assuree it will not be
an option to not accept support if they have developed a dislike
for the assuror.
Item 5 inserts a new
provision making it clear that the assuror cannot withdraw from the
assurance once the assuree become a holder of a visa contingent on
the AoS. This makes assurances binding on the assuror for the
duration of the visa.
Item 9 inserts a new
provision with wording that makes it clear that the AoS remains in
force unless conditions or circumstances arise whereby the AoS is
not in force. This makes it clear that notwithstanding that there
might be changes in circumstances of either the assuror or the
assuree, unless the circumstances as specified arise, the AoS
remains in force.
Item 2 inserts new provisions
setting out that a newly arrived humanitarian migrant can access
the crisis payment. One condition is that the claim for the crisis
payment will need to be lodged within 7 days of the date of arrival
which raises the issue of how will such new entrants know of the
existence of the crisis payment. It is probable that the officials
dealing with the newly arrived migrant will advise those in severe
financial hardship of the capacity to claim and how to claim.
Item 3 provides for access to the crisis payment
for newly arrived humanitarian migrants and is limited to those who
arrive on or after 1 January 2008.
Item 2 inserts replacement
provisions into the SSA to describe an exempt funeral investment.
These replacement provisions specify that the amount of exemption
value is up to $10 000 and this amount is indexed annually to the
CPI. Item 10 does the same for the VEA. See the
comments above about how many of the provisions for income support
payments in both the SSA and the VEA mirror each other and this
parity is maintained to ensure consistency and equity of treatment
between like payments.
Items 1 to 3 insert
provisions to expand the access to the multiple birth allowance.
Specifically it will be payable in respect to children up to age
fifteen and to full time students aged sixteen to eighteen, with
the payment ceasing at the end of the calendar year the full time
student turns age eighteen. Item 5 inserts a
provision so that this expanded access applies to persons
qualifying for the multiple birth allowance on or after 1 January
2008 in respect of the 2007-08 year.
Conclusion
The provisions presented in the Bill are
generally beneficial. The individual initiatives in the Bill do not
involve significant expenditure and this largely arises as not many
individuals will benefit from the expanded access to the programs
affected. [28]
The biggest single expense item is in
Schedule 1, dealing with the amendments to the
PBS. However, with the PBS expansion, the estimated extra cost of
about $13 million a year is very small in the context that the age
pension program is estimated to cost $23.9 billion in the 2007-08
year. [29] Not that
many age pension claimants access the PBS [30] and those who can are generally those
with sufficient work after age pension qualifying age and also
sufficient financial resources (from work and other sources) to
support themselves without the age pension. This is usually those
persons who are better off financially than those qualified for the
maximum pension rate and with no other financial resources.
Therefore, the beneficiaries of the PBS and also of the expanded
access to the PBS, are generally those age pension claimants who
are better off financially.
The expansion of access to the multiple birth
allowance presented in Schedule 5 is significant
in that it takes the maximum qualifying age from six up to age
fifteen and up to age eighteen when the child is a full time
student. However, again, the low anticipated extra expenditure
[31] suggests that the numbers who will benefit will be
small.
Endnotes
[4]. Department of
Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Answer to
question on notice Pension Bonus Scheme, question No. 036,
asked by Senator Chris Evans, 2005-06 Budget - Additional Senate
Estimates, Community Affairs Legislation Committee, Canberra,
Australia, February 2006, p. 59.
http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/clac_ctte/estimates/add_0506/index.htm
[5]. Department of
Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Answer to
question on notice Pension Bonus Scheme, question No. 036, op.
cit.
[6]. Explanatory
Memorandum, pp. 6-7.
[10]. 7.(5) A person has 10 years qualifying Australian
residence if and only if:
(a) the person has, at any time, been an
Australian resident for a continuous period of not less than 10
years; or
(b) the person has been an Australian resident during more than one
period and:
(i)
at least one of those periods is 5 years or more; and
(ii)
the aggregate of those periods exceeds 10 years.
[12]. 1227.(2) In this
Chapter:
assurance of support debt means:
(a) a debt due and payable by a person to the Commonwealth, or a
liability of a person to the Commonwealth, because of the operation
of:
(i)
subregulation 165(1) of the Migration (1989) Regulations as in
force on or before 19 December 1991; or
(ii)
regulation 164C of the Migration (1989) Regulations as in force
after 19 December 1991
and
before 1 February 1993; or
(iii)
Part 5 of the Migration (1993) Regulations as in force on or after
1 February 1993; or
(iv)
Division 2.7 of the Migration Regulations 1994 as in force
on or after 1 September 1994;
in respect of the payment to another person of a social
security payment of a kind mentioned in subregulation 2.38(1) of
the Migration Regulations 1994; or
(b) a
liability of a person to the Commonwealth because of the operation
of
section 1061ZZGG.
[14]. A person can get a
Crisis Payment if:
-
they are
in severe financial hardship, and
-
are
claiming in Australia, and
-
certain
payments from Centrelink are payable, and
-
have
left their home and cannot return because of an extreme
circumstance, such as domestic violence, and have set up or intend
to set up a new home, or
-
they
remain in their home after experiencing domestic violence and the
family member responsible has left or been removed from their home,
or
-
they have served at least 14 days in jail,
have just been released and are in severe financial hardship.
In most cases the person must have lived in
Australia for a total of two years as an Australian resident to be
eligible. Crisis Payment is a one-off payment, equal to the rate
one week's payment (without add-ons) of the normal Centrelink
pension or benefit payment the person is entitled to get. It is
limited to four payments for extreme circumstances in any 12
months.
[15]. Permanent entry to Australia can be through the
Migration Program (for skilled and family migrants) or the
Humanitarian Program (for refugees and others in humanitarian
need). The Humanitarian Program comprises two components: offshore
resettlement for people in humanitarian need overseas; and onshore
protection for those people already in Australia who arrived on
temporary visas or in an unauthorised manner, and who claim
Australia s protection.
[18]. 623A. Newly arrived resident's waiting period
623A.(1) Subject to this section, a person who:
(a) has entered
Australia on or after 1 January 1993; and
(b) has not been an
Australian resident and in Australia for a period of, or
periods totalling, 104 weeks;
[20]. 23. General definitions
23.(1) In
this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:
"exempt funeral investment"
means:
(i)
to which another type A funeral investment relates; or
(iii)
expenses for which have been paid in advance; or
(b) a
type B funeral investment of not more than $5,000 (disregarding any
return on the investment) that does not relate to a funeral:
(i)
to which another type B funeral investment relates; or
(ii)
to which a type A funeral investment relates; or
(iii)
expenses for which have been paid in advance.
[21]. The Hon. Mal
Brough, MP, Minister for Families, Community Services and
Indigenous Affairs, Howard Government $1.4 billion Package for
Older Australians, op. cit.
[22]. Explanatory
Memorandum, Financial impact statement.
[23]. A person can
get Multiple Birth Allowance if they have three or more children
who are born during the same birth for whom they receive Family Tax
Benefit. Multiple Birth Allowance can be added to the Family Tax
Benefit and is paid until the children turn six years old. Triplets
qualify for $121.94 each per fortnight or $3,179.15 each per year
(2007 rates). Quadruplets or more qualify for $162.54 each per
fortnight or $4,237.65 each per year (2007 rates).
[26]. ISS is an income support pension paid to:
-
eligible war widows and war widowers under the
Veterans Entitlements Act 1986 (VEA), and
-
persons receiving wholly dependent partners
compensation under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation
Act 2004 (MRCA).
ISS is subject to an income and an assets
test, being the same test as applies to age pension. The person
needs to be over service pension qualifying age. The maximum rate
of ISS as at July 2007 is $156.60 per fortnight.
[27]. A person is entitled to DFISA if they
are qualified for an income support payment and they or their
partner receives a disability pension (DP) under the VEA and they
meet one of the following criteria:
-
their income support payment is reduced because
of the impact of their DP, or
-
their income support payment is not payable
because of the impact of their DP.
DFISA is the difference
between the actual rate of income support payment paid under the
SSA and what the payment would be if DP were exempt from this rate
assessment.
[28]. Explanatory Memorandum, Financial impact
statement.
[30]. Department of Families, Community Services and
Indigenous Affairs, Answer to question on notice Pension Bonus
Scheme, question No. 036, op. cit.
[31]. Explanatory
Memorandum, Financial impact statement.
Peter Yeend
2 August 2007
Social Policy Section
Parliamentary Library
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