Bills Digest no. 27 2007–08
Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Welfare
Payment Reform) 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
Social Security
and Other Legislation Amendment (Welfare Payment Reform) Bill
2007
Date introduced:
7 August 2007
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Families, Community Services and
Indigenous Affairs
Commencement:
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/.
This Bill
contains essentially the changes to welfare payments and payment
arrangements considered necessary by the government to support its
response to the report of the Northern Territory board of inquiry
into the protection of Aboriginal children from sexual abuse.
[1] The legislative
amendments presented contain new payment arrangements for
individuals considered appropriate to have all or some of their
welfare payment diverted. The Bill introduces a new concept into
welfare assistance legislation the Income Management Regime (IMR).
Individual welfare payment recipients subjected to IMR arrangements
may have their welfare payments paid to them directly reduced and
the amount diverted paid into an IMR special account.
The Bill was introduced to the Parliament
along with four other Bills as a package on 7 August 2007. The
other Bills are:
-
Families, Community Services and Indigenous
Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Northern Territory
National Emergency Response and Other Measures) Bill 2007 (the
Families Bill)
-
Northern Territory National Emergency Response
Bill 2007 (the Emergency Response Bill)
-
Appropriation (Northern Territory National
Emergency Response) Bill (No. 1) 2007-2008, and
-
Appropriation (Northern Territory National
Emergency Response) Bill (No. 2) 2007-2008.
Due to the short time-frame allowed for
Parliamentary consideration, the Library produced an interim
Bills Digest on the package of Bills on 7 August, [2] and is now issuing a
separate Bills Digest on each Bill.
The Bill provides the legislative support for
the measures announced by the Prime Minister and the Minister for
Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs on 21 June
2007, [3] in response
to the Report of the Northern Territory Board of Inquiry into
the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse, 2007.
[4]
The Bill proposes various measures to avoid
being affected by the operation of the Racial Discrimination
Act 1975 (RDA). The Bill s various provisions are defined as
special measures under the RDA. This would mean that they are
defined as being undertaken for the benefit of the communities
involved and are not prohibited by the Act. However the Bill then
goes on to suspend the operation of Part II of the RDA, which
includes the operative provisions prohibiting racial
discrimination. For further discussion of the provisions regarding
racial discrimination see the Bills Digest for the Northern
Territory National Emergency Response Bill 2007.
Generally, welfare payments are inalienable.
This applies to the income support and income supplement payments
provided under the Social Security Act 1991 (SSA) and also
to the family assistance payments provided under the A New Tax
System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 (FAA). It also applies to
payments provided under the Veterans Entitlements Act 1986
(VEA).
Inalienability basically means that where a
person is qualified to a payment and entitled to an amount of
payment, the payment is their legal right and cannot be not
provided, or provided to someone else.
This Bill will add another circumstance where,
notwithstanding the current inalienability of payment provisions in
the SSA, the FAA and the VEA, there will be circumstances where an
individual qualified to receive a payment will not be provided with
that payment, in whole or in part. This will be where the proposed
IMR provisions in this Bill are to apply.
Payments
provided under the SSA are inalienable according to section 60 of
the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (SSAA).
[5]
Section 61 of the SSAA allows the payment
recipient to elect to pay some part of their payment (deductions)
to another party, for example to an energy or electricity provider.
Section 238 of the SSAA allows deductions to be made to the
Taxation Commissioner for tax owed or to the Child Support Agency
for maintenance owed. Sections 1231 and 1234A of the SSA allow
deductions to recover debts; that is section 1231 for debts arising
under the SSA and section 1234A for deductions for other debts with
the person s consent. Other than these specific modifications, the
inalienability provisions in the SSA mean that payments under the
SSA must be provided to the qualified person and not be not
provided.
There are
also like provisions ensuring payments provided under the FAA are
inalienable see Section 66 of the A New Tax System (Family
Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 (FAAA). [6]
As with
the inalienability of payment provisions in the SSA and the FAA.
Section 125 of the VEA provides for the inalienability of payments.
[7]
Broadly speaking, a person may become subject
to the IMR provisions in this Bill for one of the following
reasons:
-
for the protection of a child of the
person
-
the person is subject to the jurisdiction of
the Queensland Commission and the Commission request the IMR
provisions to apply
[8]
-
the person is a resident of a specified area in
the Northern Territory, or
-
the person s child is subject to the
unsatisfactory attendance at school situation.
Generally, the specific individual
circumstance where a person might be considered for and subject to,
the IMR provisions in this Bill are not set out in this Bill. The
details of the circumstances where individuals might be subjected
to the IMR provisions are to be set out in various different
Legislative Instruments to be made by the Minister.
Historically, the use of Legislative
Instruments attached to the SSA, the FAA or the VEA has been very
minimal. Where there needs to be qualification or payment
requirements spelt out, this has been placed inside the
legislation, not in an attached Legislative Instrument. The culture
has been one of; if you are to make payments to a person, the
qualification requirements and the payment conditions should be
spelt out in legislation. More recently this has changed. For
example, the major legislation supporting the government s Welfare
to Work initiatives was the Employment and Workplace Relations
Legislation Amendment (Welfare to Work and Other Measures) Act
2005. [9] This
Act did make extensive use of attached Legislative Instruments to
spell out in more detail the conditions of payment eligibility,
activity testing exemptions and other matters.
Perhaps Legislative Instruments are a feature
in this Bill because of the very short lead time between when the
Government announced the initiatives on 21 June 2007 and when
legislation was presented to the Parliament on 7 August 2007. It
may be that there hasn t been the time to develop and write the
detailed provisions that might apply to trigger the IMR provisions
in specific situations, especially considering the IMR arrangements
presented in the Bill are unprecedented and very new. In this case,
placing much of the detail in attached Legislative Instruments does
allow more time for the government to work up the detail and
provide it later in the Legislative Instruments.
Disallowable Legislative Instruments still get
some scrutiny by the Parliament, [10] but a second reading debate is not required and
unless there is a motion of disallowance, there is no debate.
Legislative Instruments can be favoured by administrators as they
are more easily updated or changed than provisions in an act, which
require amending legislation to be passed by the Parliament.
A person may be subject to the IMR provisions
for reasons of protection of a child. The child protection IMR
provisions will require a State or Territory child protection
officer to request the IMR provisions to be applied and then when
applied, amongst other things, subject to principles to be set out
in a Legislative Instrument to be made by the Minister. Unlike the
specified areas in the Northern Territory (see below) and the also
Queensland Commission referrals (see below), this child protection
IMR category is not geographically specific and can refer to any
person living anywhere.
Where the
Queensland Commission requests in writing that the Secretary
[11] place the
person under the IMR provisions, the IMR provisions are to
generally be applied. The IMR provisions are to be applied unless
the case involves circumstance where they should not be applied.
These circumstances are not set out in the Bill but are to be set
out in principles in a Legislative Instrument to be made by the
Minister.
Where a
person is a resident of a specified area in the Northern Territory
(specified in this Bill), the Secretary can determine that a person
is subject to the IMR provisions in this Bill. The Secretary must
have regard to, amongst other things, principles to be set out in a
Legislative Instrument to be made by the Minister. These principles
are not set out in the Bill.
For the
child attendance at school provisions, the IMR provisions can be
applied where it is considered there is an unsatisfactory school
attendance situation. The Secretary will be empowered to declare
the IMR should apply to a person subject to amongst other things,
principles to be set out in a Legislative Instrument to be made by
the Minister.
The
Secretary will also be able to issue to a parent a requirement to
provide documentary evidence about the child s attendance at
school. Where the notice is not complied with, the Secretary can
determine the child has not been attending school, subject to
provisions to be set out in a Legislative Instrument to be made by
the Minister. Unlike the specified areas in the Northern Territory
(see above) and the also Queensland Commission referrals (see
above), this child attendance or enrolment at school IMR reason is
not geographically specific and can refer to any person living
anywhere.
The
provisions in this Bill only really set out the broad circumstances
where the IMR provisions are to be applied. The specific details of
where an individual person can be subjected to the IMR provisions
are yet to be seen as they are to be described in principles to be
set out in a Legislative Instrument made by the Minister.
There is no set period set out in the Bill as
to how long an IMR process is to apply to an individual. The period
an IMR can be applied will be set out in principles to be set out
in a Legislative Instrument to be made by the Minister.
There are various different payment diversion
amount provisions in the Bill. The amounts to be diverted vary
depending on whether the origins of the IMR for the individual
refer to a Northern Territory resident, a request by the Queensland
Commission, or a child protection case or a child non attendance at
school case. The other main variable that determines the amount of
diversion is the type and nature of payment to be diverted.
Amounts of monies diverted from the person
under the IMR processes are placed into a dedicated special IMR
management account for that individual.
The Bill provides for any remaining amount in
an individual s IMR management account to be refunded to the person
when they are no longer subject to the IMR process.
The Bill does empower the Secretary to authorise
monies to be provided from a person s IMR management account for
priority needs. The Bill does not specify what a priority need is,
so presumably this will be described in policy guidelines approved
by the Secretary. The Bill does specify that the Secretary is to
have regard to the best interests of the children of the
person.
The Bill does empower the Secretary to authorise
the provision of monies from a person s IMR management account for
expenses on goods and services by the person. These expenses are
not described in the Bill, but are probably envisaged as essential
debts such as electricity bills, rent etc.
The Bill empowers the Secretary to make debits
from a person s IMR management account to their personal bank
account. The Bill does not specify how much these debits can be for
and for what purpose. The provisions are very open but they are to
be subject to matters (if any) set out in a Legislative Instrument
made by the Minister and other matters as specified in guidelines
set out by the Secretary. It is probable that this is intended to
cover cases where some monies are wanted to be handed back to the
IMR affected person but they do not want to remove the IMR
processes from the person.
The IMR regime provisions in this Bill, whereby
welfare payments (whole or in part) are not paid to a person, have
never been applied to welfare payments before. Accordingly, the
very broad debit provisions in the Bill, to allow for the refund or
payments of debits out of the amounts diverted are very flexible,
without removing the person from the IMR processes.
Most of the specified diversion amounts
referred to in the Bill are either 50 per cent or 100 per cent.
Whether 50 per cent or 100 per cent is diverted will depend on the
origins of the case and the type of payment and also on the
delivery of payment; that is regular instalments or a lump sum.
Where the IMR provisions are to be applied as
it is a case concerning either a child protection case or a school
enrolment and attendance case, in most cases the Bill describes
that the diversion of payment under IMR processes is to be 100 per
cent. The child protection cases and school enrolment and
attendance cases both refer to category I payments (as described in
the Bill), which refers to virtually all income support and
supplement payments provided under the SSA, the FAA and also the
VEA [12]. The
category I payments refer to income support and supplement payments
paid both incrementally (usually fortnightly) and also lump sum
payments. Lump sum payments might refer to the arrears of payment
owed to the person, or payment of FTB arrears owed after an end of
year claim for FTB made in the tax assessment.
The Bill does allow for cases where less than
100 per cent of the Category I payment will be diverted, but the
amount withheld is not specified in the Bill and is to be detailed
in a Legislative Instrument, which is to be described by the
Minister.
For these child protection or school enrolment
and attendance cases, the Bill describes that the diversion of
payment under IMR processes is to be 100 per cent (or lesser in
some cases). This is pretty severe and is probably aimed at
obtaining an immediate impact and response from the IMR person in
the case where it is applied.
Relevant Northern Territory area
cases
Where the IMR provisions are to be applied to
people residing in a specified Northern Territory area, then the
diversion amount can be either 100 per cent or 50 per cent.
Generally, the IMR diversion amount is to be 50 per cent when the
case refers to payments of:
-
category B payments that is referring to income
support and supplement payment provided under the SSA and the FAA
whether paid by instalments or by lump sum but not advance
payments, or
-
category F payments that is referring to FTB
paid by instalments and also double orphan pension, carer allowance
or distance education payment under the Isolated Children Scheme
paid by instalment or by lump sum.
The IMR diversion amount is to be 100 per cent
when the case refers to payments of:
Where the IMR provisions are to be to people
referred by the Queensland Commission, the diversion amount is to
be set for the case by the Secretary in guidelines, but must not
exceed 100 per cent of the payment. Unlike other references in the
Bill to guidelines which are to be described in a Legislative
Instrument by the Minister, Secretary s guidelines are not subject
to any Parliamentary scrutiny.
The Bill details that Queensland Commission cases
are to apply diversions to category Q and R classes of payments
whether paid by instalments or by lump sum. Payments included in
category Q and R payments includes category P payments, so this
means virtually all income support and income supplement payments
provided under the SSA, the FAA and the VEA are included.
The Baby Bonus payment [13] as described in this Bill was
originally called the maternity payment. The name of the payment
was changed from maternity payment to Baby Bonus with the passage
of the Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs
Legislation Amendment (Child Support Reform Consolidation and Other
Measures) Act 2007. [14]
The Baby Bonus (currently $4 133 per child) is
usually paid as a lump sum but paid in 13 fortnightly instalments
to claimants aged under 18. The amendments to the FAA presented in
Schedule 2 will provide for the Baby Bonus to be
paid in 13 fortnightly instalments to all recipients subjected to
the IMR processes.
It should be noted that in Schedule
2 of this Bill, payment withholdings and deductions are
spelt out for persons subject to the IMR processes. In some cases
withholdings can be 100 per cent and other cases 50 per cent or an
amount to be determined by the Minister or in some cases by the
Secretary. The Baby Bonus is one of the income supplement payments
provided under the FAA that could be subjected to a 100 per cent,
or 50 percent or other deduction amount the Baby Bonus is included
in category C, G, I, Q and S payments.
The net effect of Schedules 1 and
2 is that a person subject to the IMR processes who
becomes entitled to the Baby Bonus will not be paid with a lump
sum, only by instalments and then may be subjected to a 100 per
cent, or 50 per cent or other deduction amount.
Schedule 3 Northern Territory CDEP
transition payment
The Community Development Employment Projects
(CDEP) programme commenced in 1977. Under the scheme, members
of participating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
or organisations can forgo any Centrelink income support
benefit (except Abstudy or full time student youth allowance)
for a wages grant paid to the community. Although CDEP has been
referred to as a work for the dole scheme there are significant
differences including the ability of all welfare recipients to
participate in CDEP activities and also a more generous income
allowance on top of CDEP wages than available to newstart allowance
recipients.
The government has been talking about changes to
the Community Development Employment Project (CDEP) program
arrangements for over two years. The government released a
discussion paper, Building on Success , on the CDEP
program arrangements in February 2005. [15] This paper flagged proposed changes
to the CDEP arrangements and was then followed up with a second
discussion paper Indigenous Potential Meets Economic
Opportunity , in November 2006. [16] In February 2007 the government
announced changes to the CDEP arrangements to take effect from 1
July 2007. [17] The
changes to CDEP arrangements feature the phasing out of CDEP
arrangements and replacing them with more mainstream government
welfare payments and Job Network assistance arrangements,
especially in urban and regional areas with strong labour markets.
[18] The DEWR
website states that:
in remote locations and regional locations with
weaker labour markets, CDEP will continue to be funded in 2007 08
subject to the usual competitive funding process.
[19]
However, as a result of the Northern Territory
emergency response the 50 Northern Territory CDEP programs with
approximately 8 000 participants, almost totally in remote
locations, will be the exception.
The government also announced changes to the CDEP
arrangements in the 2007-08 Budget. [20] These changes essentially
featured:
-
building an Indigenous workforce in government
service delivery essentially converting previous CDEP paid jobs
providing government services to normal open employment
arrangements,
[21]
and
-
Indigenous employment services the replacement
of CDEP employment training and assistance arrangements in strong
urban labour markets with Job Network employment assistance
arrangements like job brokerage servicing, Structured Training and
Employment Project (STEP) assistance.
[22]
As part of the Northern Territory emergency
response all Northern Territory CDEP programs were informed that
from 1 July 2007 their funding agreements would be reduced from 12
to three months and on 23 July 2007, the government announced
further changes to the CDEP arrangements in the Northern Territory
including that the program will be replaced with real jobs,
training and mainstream employment programmes . [23] However a more significant
outcome, at least initially, will be the move from CDEP wages to
income support, a requisite of the welfare payment reform
provisions in the Bill. The fact sheet accompanying the media
release states that:
moving CDEP participants onto income support
will allow a single system of quarantining to apply to welfare
payments. This initiative will stem the flow of cash going towards
alcohol and substance abuse and ensure that money meant for
children s welfare is used for that purpose.
[24]
The Government also announced a transition
payment to aid persons moving from CDEP wages to income support
payments.
Northern Territory CDEP transition
payment
The amendments to the SSA presented in
Schedule 3 feature the creation of a Northern
Territory CDEP transition payment. The Explanatory Memorandum
provides quite a good background to the purpose of the transition
payment. It is to provide a financial assistance payment for those
moving from closed CDEP payment arrangements to other mainstream
income support payments provided under the SSA. These SSA payments
will mainly be newstart allowance (NSA) but could also be parenting
payment partnered (PPP), parenting payment single (PPS), age
pension, disability support pension (DSP). The CDEP transition
payment is to be paid to a person from the date the CDEP
arrangements cease in the community of residence (this will vary
between communities) up until 30 June 2008.
Persons being provided with CDEP wages are
paid by a different method and often different amounts to those
receiving mainstream income support payments under the SSA. There
is no set rate or amount for CDEP wages and amounts paid to
individuals and they vary for individuals inside CDEP communities
and between CDEP communities. Some CDEP participants may be
receiving more from CDEP wages (and also from other income sources
like sale of art works) than they would otherwise receive when on
an income support payment. Hence the need for a transition payment
over a transition period to allow persons formerly in CDEP
communities the time to adjust to the changed income support
payment amounts and payment arrangements. Some individuals may have
been resident in and involved in CDEP community processes and
payment arrangements for many years.
The calculation of the transition amount for
an individual will be the average CDEP wage in the community they
were a participant plus their income support payment. From this
combined amount their income support amount plus remote area
allowance [25]
amount will be deducted. Any residual amount will be the person s
rate of transitional payment. The maximum that the transition
payment will be is $794.80 per fortnight. Where the person will
receive a higher rate of payments on an income support payment than
they received on CDEP wages, the transition payment rate will be
nil.
As said above, there will be cases where a
former CDEP participant will have received more in CDEP wages (and
other income sources) than they will receive on an income support
payment. This transition payment is aimed at aiding these persons
to make the financial transition to a lower rate of income support
assistance. However, in the end, post 30 June 2008 the main stream
income support payment will be their income source. The Bill has
not specified that the CDEP transition payment will be subject to
IMR diversions.
Back to top
Item 17 inserts the new IMR
provisions into the SSA. Features of these proposed new provisions
are:
-
Section 123TA - setting out
the outline of the IMR provisions
-
Section 123TB - setting out
the objectives of the IMR provisions
-
Section 123TC - detailing the
IMR definitions featuring the grouping of payments into categories
A to S, whose recipients may be subject to the IMR processes in
different ways
-
Section 123TD - which names
areas in the Northern Territory for the application of the IMR
provisions
-
Section 1233TE - which
empowers the Minister to declare an area in the Northern Territory
for the application of the IMR provisions
-
Section 123TH defining what
are the priority needs of a person for the application of the IMR
provisions
-
Section 123UB defining persons
in a relevant Northern Territory area subject to the IMPR
provisions
-
Section 123UC defining persons
in a child protection situation subject to the IMR provisions
-
Section 123UD defining persons
in a school enrolment situation subject to the IMR provisions
-
Section 123UE defining persons
in a school attendance situation subject to the IMR
provisions
-
Section 123UF defining persons
subject to the Queensland Commission subject to the IMR
provisions
-
Sections 123XA to 123XQ -
setting out the amount of deductions to be taken from IMR subjected
welfare recipients payments in different situations
-
Sections 123YG and 123YI
empowering the Secretary to make payments from IMR account credits
for the person, and
-
Section 123YO empowering the
Secretary to make payments back to the IMR subject person from the
IMR account credits.
Item 2 inserts a new
provision into the FAAA setting out that an IMR subject person aged
18 or more entitled to the Baby Bonus is to be paid by 13
instalments.
Schedule 3 Northern Territory CDEP
transition payment
Item 6 inserts new provisions
into the SSA to provide for the Northern territory CDEP transition
payment, the rate of the transition payment and the end date of 1
July 2008 for the payment.
Conclusion
The IMR provisions in this Bill present
changes to the SSA, the FAA and the VEA that are unprecedented.
Never before have provisions in these Acts provided for welfare
income support and supplement payments to be withheld in part or in
total. The SSA is a welfare act and the income support payments
provisions in the VEA are welfare provisions, targeting income and
asset tested income support payments to persons with lesser means
to support themselves. Historically, welfare payments have been
payable to the qualified person and to no other person and are not
to be withheld, hence the inalienability sections in these
Acts.
The child protection and child attendance at
school IMR provisions entailing 100 per cent deductions of welfare
payments are severe. They are severe probably intending to provide
for an immediate impact and response in the case at issue. The
child protection and child attendance at school IMR provisions are
not geographically specific and can be applied to any person living
anywhere.
The extensive use of Legislative Instruments
in the Bill empowering the Minister to write principles as to how
various classes of cases are to be considered and assessed for the
IMR provisions is historically unusual for the SSA, the FAA and the
VEA. As discussed, the use of Legislative Instruments empowering
the Minister or the Secretary has become a feature more recently.
Perhaps in this case, the very short lead time between when the
initiative was announced on 21 June 2007 and when this 111 page
Bill was presented on 7 August 2007, has lead to their
extensive use. This would be especially so considering these IMR
provisions are very new territory for legislators and
administrators in the welfare payments area and there would be a
desire for empowering legislation with flexibility.
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Endnotes
[1]. Government of
the Northern Territory, Report of the Northern Territory
Board of Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from
Sexual Abuse 2007, Ampe Akelyernemane Meke Mekarle
Little Children are Sacred , Darwin, Australia, 15 June 2007.
http://www.nt.gov.au/dcm/inquirysaac/
[4]. Government of
the Northern Territory, Report of the Northern Territory
Board of Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from
Sexual Abuse 2007, op.
cit.
[5]. Protection of social
security payment
60. (1) A social security payment is absolutely inalienable,
whether by way of, or in consequence of, sale, assignment, charge,
execution, bankruptcy or otherwise.
60. (2) This section has effect subject to:
(b) sections 1231 and 1234A of the 1991
Act.
[6]. Protection of payments
under this Part
66.(1)
Payments of the following are absolutely inalienable, whether by
way of, or in consequence of, sale, assignment, charge, execution,
bankruptcy or otherwise:
(a)
family tax benefit;
(b)
family tax benefit advances;
(c)
maternity payment;
(d)
maternity immunisation allowance;
(e)
child care benefit;
(g)
one-off payment to families.
[7]. Pensions etc.
absolutely inalienable
(1)
Subject to this Act, a pension, allowance or other pecuniary
benefit under this Act is absolutely inalienable, whether by way
of, or in consequence of, sale, assignment, charge, execution,
bankruptcy or otherwise.
[11]. Defined in the Social Security Act 1991 as
the Secretary to the Department of Families, Community Services and
Indigenous Affairs.
[12]. The income
support payments provided under the VEA are the age service
pension, the invalidity service pension and the income support
supplement.
[13]. The Baby
Bonus payment is $4,133. This payment rate is effective from 1 July
2007 and is only paid for babies born or adopted on or after 1 July
2004. Baby Bonus is paid as a non-taxable lump sum
payment. From 1 July 2008 the Baby Bonus will be increased to
$5,000.
[14]. Dale Daniels and Kirsty Magarey, Families, Community
Services and Indigenous Affairs Legislation Amendment (Child
Support Reform Consolidation and Other Measures) Bill 2007,
Bills Digest No. 141 2006-07, Parliamentary Library,
Canberra, Australia, 7 May 2007. http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bd/bd06-07.htm
[23]. The Hon. Mr
Mal Brough, MP, Minister for Families, Community Services and
Indigenous Affairs, the Hon. Mr Joe Hockey, MP Minister for
Employment and Workplace Relations, Jobs And Training For
Indigenous People In The NT, media release, Canberra,
Australia, 23 July 2007.
http://mediacentre.dewr.gov.au/mediacentre/MinisterHockey/Releases/JobsAndTrainingForIndigenousPeopleInTheNT.htm
[25]. A person may qualify
for Remote Area Allowance if they receive income support payment,
that is a payment like
newstart allowance,
age pension,
parenting payment (single),
youth allowance or
disability support pension and they usually live in ordinary
Tax Zone A (including, with certain exceptions, Special Tax Zone A)
and Special Tax Zone B. Remote Area Allowance is a non-taxable
fortnightly payment of single $18.20, couple $15.60 each, plus
$7.30 for each dependent.
Peter Yeend and Coral Dow
13 August 2007
Social Policy Section
Parliamentary Library
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