Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That Senate amendments (1) to (4), (6) to (40) and (42) to (48) be agreed to.

These amendments have the effect of omitting from the bill measures to delay the commencement of the Charities Act, measures providing for a general interest charge on student loans, measures to change student start-up scholarships into income-contingent loans and measures to pause the indexation of the childcare rebate. Other amendments make minor changes to language in schedule 1 as well as amending the schedule commencement dates in the bill as a consequence of it not passing the parliament last year.

Question agreed to.

I move:

That Senate amendments (5) and (41) be disagreed to and the following two government amendments be made in place of them:

(1) Clause 2, page 2 (table item 5), omit the table item, substitute:

(2) Schedule 7, page 103 (line 1) to page 110 (line 24), omit the Schedule.

These amendments would omit schedule 7 of the bill relating to paid parental leave and make a consequential amendment to the commencement provision in the bill. The original schedule 7 was intended to remove the requirement for all employers to act as the pay clerk for the government's Paid Parental Leave scheme. The Senate's revised schedule 7 would remove that requirement only for employers with fewer than 20 employees.

In passing the original schedule 7, the House demonstrated its commitment to removing this administrative burden for all businesses from 1 July 2014. Accordingly, the government is moving amendments to repeal this component of the bill with a view to reintroducing it in a separate bill at a later date. I commend the amendments to the House.

Question agreed to.