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This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as
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CONTENTS
Passage History
Purpose
Background
Main Provisions
Concluding Comments
Endnotes
Contact Officer and Copyright Details
Youth Allowance
Consolidation Bill 1999
Date Introduced: 11 February 1999
House: House of Representatives
Portfolio: Family and Community Services
Commencement: Schedule 1 concerning Fares
Allowance, Schedule 2 concerning the Student Financial Supplement
Scheme and Schedule 3 concerning the Family Actual Means Test will
take effect from Royal Assent. The various parts of Schedules 4 and
5 concerning Youth Allowance, Austudy and the Student Financial
Supplement Scheme take effect from Royal Assent, 1 July 1998, 20
September 1998, 1 January 1999, 1 July 1999 or 1 July 2000. The
Explanatory Memorandum gives the details.
Purpose
To incorporate
two disallowable instruments and one set of regulations dealing
with aspects of Austudy into the Social Security Act
1991.
To address technical issues arising out of the
implementation of the youth allowance package and to make
consequential amendments relating to the commencement of youth
allowance.
Background
The Youth Allowance was introduced from July
1998. It merged all income support for young unemployed people
under the age of 21 years and full-time students between the ages
of 16 and 24 years, into one payment administered by the Department
of Social Security (DSS) now called the Department of Family and
Community Services (FACS). The only exceptions were Abstudy and the
Assistance for Isolated Children Scheme(1).
This process involved the transfer from the
Department of Employment Education, Training and Youth Affairs
(DEETYA) of responsibility for student income support. Two amending
acts set up the new payment: the Social Security Legislation
Amendment (Youth Allowance) Act 1998 and the Social
Security Legislation Amendment (Youth Allowance Consequential and
Related Measures) Act 1998. Two disallowable instruments and
one set of regulations were created to preserve existing provisions
while transferring them to the new legislative system.
The Second Reading Speech gives no reasons for
the incorporation of the subordinate legislation into the main act,
beyond saying that they were always intended to be incorporated and
were only a temporary expedient due to the time constraints imposed
by the implementation schedule for the Youth Allowance Package.
However the legislative practises of the two departments involved
in the administration of youth income support prior to their merger
as the Youth Allowance had been somewhat different. DEETYA used
subordinate legislation extensively to flesh out the bones of their
main acts. DSS on the other hand tended concentrate the detail in
the main Act. This tendency was reinforced when the Social Security
Act was rewritten in 1991 as a plain English act. This rewrite
produced one large and comprehensive document, which was more user
friendly than its' predecessor. It was a single source for
practically all legislation on social security payments. Extensive
use of subordinate legislation would be out of place in this long
standing legislative arrangement. This bill completes the
transition, for student income support legislation, from the DEETYA
legislative practise to the DSS legislative practise.
As part of the incorporation process, some
changes are being made to drafting style and structure in keeping
with the practise in the rest of the Social Security Act. Certain
technical changes are also being made to more accurately reflect
the original Austudy provisions which the subordinate legislation
replaced. These changes do not appear to disadvantage anyone.
The Bill also deals with technical issues
arising out of the implementation of the youth allowance package
and makes consequential amendments relating to the commencement of
youth allowance. These are a collection of disparate and minor
changes of a housekeeping nature which do to appear to disadvantage
anyone recipients. Such changes are not unusual after the
implementation of such a major restructure of income support
arrangements.
Main Provisions
Schedules 1 to 3 incorporate subordinate
legislation into the main Act without altering the entitlements of
recipients. The drafting style and structure of the Social Security
Act has been adopted in the process and minor changes made. See
pages 2,10 and 27 of the Explanatory memorandum for details.
Schedules 4 and 5 contain minor and technical
amendments.
Concluding Comments
This bill is a legislative housekeeping exercise
with no significant ramifications for the entitlements of Youth
Allowance recipients.
Endnotes
-
- For further background on the Youth Allowance see Bills Digest
No. 77 1997-98 which deals with the Social Security Legislation
Amendment (Youth Allowance) Bill 1997.
Dale Daniels
23 February 1999
Bills Digest Service
Information and Research Services
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ISSN 1328-8091
© Commonwealth of Australia 1999
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Published by the Department of the Parliamentary Library,
1999.
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