Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

As I mentioned in my summing up speech, we certainly have considered a whole range of elements to see how fast we can implement these measures. After consideration of the legislative arrangements, along with the implementation date, 20 September is the fastest that we are able to be confident that we can implement these measures. That's certainly my advice from Services Australia. Of course, as a result of this parliament, increases to social security do require legislative changes. We have looked into this and we are confident that this is the best course going forward to ensure that the build of Services Australia, along with the legislation, can implement what is a number of complex measures. It is not just an increase to the base rate but a change to eligibility. It will allow the build of automatic transfer for those parents. We've looked at the simplest, fastest way to enact all of these on 20 September, so we're not able to bring that back.

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