Recommendations
Chapter 2
Recommendation 1: That the Bill be amended to provide that
where a person is required to enter into a participation agreement, the person
must be offered a ‘cooling off’ period of at least seven days between the time
that the terms of the agreement are settled and the time the person is required
to sign the agreement; and the Department be required to inform people of their
rights to this ‘cooling off’ period.
Recommendation 2: That the Bill be amended to explicitly
recognise the needs of the child in determining the capacity of a parent to
comply with a participation agreement.
Recommendation 3: That the Bill be amended to provide
additional exemptions:
- for parents of children with a disability, not covered in
the Bill, or other high care needs or other situations where the child or
parent is in special circumstances;
- for parents whose children have non-physical disabilities;
- for a parent with more than one child with disabilities not
defined within the Bill; and
- for mature aged Newstart recipients with caring
responsibilities or personal circumstances, such as health problems, or other
special circumstances that restrict their capacity to participate.
Recommendation 4: That the Bill be amended to provide for
temporary exemptions from entering into a participation agreement due to
special circumstances, such as short term illness or family crisis situations;
and that the temporary exemption be available for a period of up to six months,
and for more than one six month period.
Recommendation 5: That the Department introduce measures to
facilitate the simplification of income reporting.
Recommendation 6: That Centrelink further develop accessible
forms of written communication and encourage the use of plain English in their
communications.
Recommendation 7: That the Commonwealth Government introduce a
participation allowance to meet the costs associated with participation
requirements.
Recommendation 8: That the Bill be amended to provide that
full arrears be paid to mature age Newstart recipients if compliance takes
place within 13 weeks of the breach occurring, consistent with that to be
applied to Parenting Payment.
Recommendation 9: That the proposed breaching and penalty
arrangements for Parenting Payment and mature age Newstart recipients be
amended in line with the recommendations of the Pearce Review, especially in
relation to a reduction in the rate and duration of breaches.
Recommendation 10: That the Bill be amended to provide that a
participation agreement breach not commence until at least 14 days after the
person has been given notice of the breach, including the reasons for the
breach. That the Bill be further amended to ensure that the recipient of a
payment who is breached be notified in writing within seven days of that breach
occurring.
Recommendation 11: That an
accountability framework for Personal Support Programme providers be inserted
into the Bill.
Recommendation 12: That the Government ensure that the high
degree of flexibility, recognised as required for those placed on Newstart
following the closure of mature age and partner allowances, include the
provision of special training programs and specialist support to enable
activity test requirements to be satisfactorily met.
Chapter 3
Recommendation 13: That the Department of Family and Community
Services implement in full the recommendations of the Independent Review of
Breaches and Penalties in the Social Security System to the wider group of
existing income support recipients currently subject to breaching provisions.
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