Revised Explanatory Memorandum
(Circulated by the authority of the Minister for Social Services, the Hon Kevin Andrews MP)
Schedule 10 - Reduction of period for temporary absence from Australia
Summary
From 1 July 2014, the length of time that families can be temporarily overseas and continue to receive family and parental payments will reduce from three years to 56 weeks.
In some circumstances, (such as where certain Australian Defence Force and Australian Federal Police personnel are deployed overseas) a person will continue to be eligible for family and parental leave payments for up to three years while temporarily absent from Australia.
Background
Currently, if an individual leaves Australia temporarily, the maximum period for which the individual can be eligible for family tax benefit during the absence from Australia is three years.
Similarly, the maximum period for which a person may be temporarily absent from Australia and still be eligible for parental leave pay, or dad and partner pay, is currently three years. If the three-year temporary absence period is exceeded before the end of a PPL period or DAPP period, the payment will stop from that day.
This Schedule reduces the allowed period of temporary absence from Australia for family tax benefit, parental leave pay and dad and partner pay recipients from three years to 56 weeks. This will also affect payments that link to family tax benefit, such as double orphan pension.
However, in some circumstances (such as where certain Australian Defence Force and Australian Federal Police personnel are deployed overseas), a person will continue to be eligible for family and parental leave payments for up to three years while temporarily absent from Australia.
The amendments made by this Schedule commence on 1 July 2014.
Explanation of the changes
Amendments to the Family Assistance Act
Items 1, 2, 3 and 4 change the allowed period of temporary absence from Australia for an FTB or regular care child, or an individual, from three years to 56 weeks in subsection 24(1), paragraph 24(2)(a), subsection 24(4) and paragraph 24(5)(a).
Item 5 adds new subsections 24(7) to (10) into the Family Assistance Act. These provisions set out the circumstances in which the 56-week temporary absence period from Australia can be extended for an individual or child, to a period of up to three years. The 56-week period can be extended:
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- where the person is unable to return to Australia within the 56-week period because of a specified event such as serious illness or hospitalisation of the person or a family member, or natural disaster or war in the country in which the person is located (see new subsections 24(7) and (8));
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- where the person is receiving financial assistance in relation to their absence from Australia under the Medical Treatment Overseas Program (see new subsection 24(9)); and
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- where the person is unable to return to Australia within the 56-week period because the person is deployed outside Australia as a defence force member, or, for the purpose of capacity building or peacekeeping, as a member or special member of the Australian Federal Police or a protective services officer (see new subsection 24(10)).
These circumstances are consistent with the circumstances in which the six-week temporary absence period that applies before a temporary overseas absence affects an individual's rate of family tax benefit can be extended (see section 63A of the Family Assistance Act).
Amendments to the Family Assistance Administration Act
Items 6 and 7 change current references to the allowed period of temporary absence from Australia in paragraphs 30A(1)(c) and 30B(1)(c) from three years to 56 weeks.
Item 8 is an application provision, which provides that the amendments made by items 1 to 7 apply in relation to any absence from Australia, whether this begins before, on or after 1 July 2014. However, the amendments only affect an individual's eligibility for family tax benefit on and from 1 July 2014.
Amendments to the Paid Parental Leave Act
Items 9 and 11 change the allowed period of temporary absence from Australia, for parental leave pay and dad and partner pay recipients, from three years to 56 weeks in paragraph 46(1)(b) and paragraph 46(2)(a).
Items 10 and 12 are technical amendments to the headings to subsection 46(2) and subsection 46(3), changing each reference to three years to a reference to 56 weeks.
Item 13 adds new subsections 46(4) and (5) into the Paid Parental Leave Act.
New subsection 46(4) provides for an extension of the 56-week temporary absence period from Australia, to a period of up to three years, for a person who is unable to return to Australia within the initial period because the person is deployed outside Australia in certain circumstances. This extension can be applied if the person is deployed outside Australia as a member of the Defence Force, or if the person is deployed outside Australia, for the purpose of capacity-building or peacekeeping functions, as a member or a special member of the Australian Federal Police or a protective service officer.
New subsection 46(5) provides for the PPL rules to prescribe further events or circumstances in which the 56-week temporary absence period from Australia can be extended, to a period of up to 3 years.
Item 14 is an application provision for items 9 to 13.
Subitem 14(1) provides that the amendments made by items 9 to 13 apply in relation to a person's eligibility for parental leave pay and dad and partner pay for a child born on or after 1 July 2014. For this purpose, it does not matter whether an absence from Australia began before, on or after 1 July 2014.
Subitem 14(2) provides that the following provisions in the Paid Parental Leave Act apply in relation to this item as if this item were a provision of that Act:
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- section 275, which deals with how the Act applies to an adopted child;
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- section 276, which deals with how the Act applies to claims for parental leave pay made in exceptional circumstances; and
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- section 277A, which deals with how the Act applies to claims for dad and partner pay made in prescribed circumstances.