House debates

Wednesday, 2 December 2020

Bills

Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Extension of Coronavirus Support) Bill 2020; Consideration in Detail

5:11 pm

Photo of Linda BurneyLinda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I move amendment (4) circulated in my name:

(4) Schedule 1, item 44, page 10 (after line 21), after section 1262, insert:

1262A Minister must immediately consider required modifications

As soon as practicable after this section commences, the Minister must consider whether the period for which a determination can be in force under section 1263 should be extended to allow determinations to be made for as long as the impacts from COVID-19 continue to exist.

Example: This could allow for the continuation, after 31 March 2021, of the extended partner income test, $300 income free areas and eligibility rules for people who are self-employed or sole traders.

This amendment would require the minister to consider extending beneficial changes like the increased partner income test beyond 31 March 2021. Earlier in the year, at the beginning of the pandemic, Labor negotiated a general regulation-making power with the government so that additional assistance could be given to people who need it during the pandemic, and it's lucky we did, because it has been used to pay students and apprentices the coronavirus supplement. It's been used to double the partner income test to around $80,000 to help households where one income earner has lost a job; this is around 100,000 households. It has been used to increase the amount a person can earn each fortnight before their payment starts tapering out from $106 to $300. It has been used to make it easier for sole traders and self-employed people to access support. Just like the increased payments themselves, these changes will need to continue long after March. There are millions of households who will be hurting for years to come. We realise that this is a broad power, and this amendment requests that the government come back to parliament with primary legislation to make it a reality.

In relation to this bill overall, so the coronavirus supplement can continue to be paid, Labor wants to strike out the part that will take payments all the way back to the old Newstart rate. In relation to this bill, we want the government to extend other beneficial changes beyond March 2021, but we know that, even if the government have the continuing power to pay the coronavirus supplement, they will do so only if they want to.

I will make two final points. With that in mind, we will not stand in the way of this bill, because we do not want students, the self-employed and those benefiting from the partner income test to be worse off after December. That is a very important reason. Ultimately, the government should just do the right thing and announce a permanent increase to the base rate of the JobSeeker payment. It would put so many people's minds at ease, and it would save jobs.

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