Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Family and Community Services, Senator the Honourable Jocelyn Newman)Outline and financial impact statement
This Bill contains various amendments to the Social Security Act 1991, the A New Tax System (Bonuses for Older Australians) Act 1999, the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999, and the Social Security (Administration and International Agreements)(Consequential Amendments) Act 1999.
Schedule 1 of the Bill amends the double orphan pension provisions of the Social Security Act 1991 to guarantee the rate of family allowance in relation to double orphans at the rate that was applicable at the time the child became a double orphan. This amendment is retrospective, applying to children who became double orphans on or after 1 July 1998.
In addition, the definition of a double orphan in subsection 993(2) of the Social Security Act 1991 is expanded to include the situation where one parent is dead and the other parent is a long term remandee (at the moment, the definition only applies where that other person was serving a long-term sentence).
Schedule 2 amends the A New Tax System (Bonuses for Older Australians) Act 1999 to ensure that the disqualifying period for the self funded retirees bonus ends on 30 June 2000 (rather than 1 July 2000), avoiding a 1-day overlap with the revised income support provisions which commence on 1 July 2000 as part of the tax reform package.
Schedule 3 contains a range of technical amendments to the Social Security Act 1991 , consisting of the repeal of redundant provisions and correcting various cross-references and minor drafting errors.
Schedule 4 contains amendments to the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 and the Social Security (Administration and International Agreements) (Consequential Amendments) Act 1999 to correct minor inaccuracies.
The financial impact of these measures is:
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- Amendments to the double orphan pension provisions to guarantee the rate of family allowance in relation to double orphans at the rate that was applicable at the time the child became a double orphan:
- 2000-2001
- $ 0.3m
- 2001-2002
- $ 0.2m
- 2002-2003
- $ 0.3m
- 2003-2004
- $ 0.4m
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- The amendments to the double orphan provisions to expand the definition of "long-term prisoner" has a negligible financial impact.
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- The remainder of the Bill has no financial impact.