Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

I table a revised explanatory memorandum relating to the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical Changes No. 2) Bill 2025, and I move:

That these bills be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speeches read as follows—

HOME AFFAIRS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (2025 MEASURES NO. 2) BILL 2025

The Home Affairs Legislation Amendment (2025 Measures No. 2) Bill 2025 amends the Migration Act and Citizenship Act to clarify provisions relating to personal identifiers, and particularly requirements in relation to facial images, to ensure they align with international standards and current biometric technologies and practices.

The Bill also amends the Citizenship Act to address certain residency barriers to Australian citizenship for persons who are seeking to engage in a specified activity that is of benefit to Australia, and who need to be an Australian citizen in order to engage in that activity.

Personal Identifiers

The collection of biometric facial images assists the Department to mitigate identity fraud, and national security and community safety risks.

They enable the Department to identify individuals who have committed serious crimes in Australia or in partner countries, and prevent the return of certain individuals who have previously been refused a visa, placed in immigration detention, or removed or deported from Australia.

The collection and use of facial images also support efforts to prevent identity fraud in visa and citizenship application processes, and mitigate the risk of human trafficking.

Facial images are also an important part of efficient and secure immigration clearance at the Australian border.

Biometric facial images are used by SmartGates to automate immigration clearance at our major international airports. Approximately 70 per cent of travellers are currently immigration cleared by SmartGates. This supports the Australian Border Force to manage increasing numbers of travellers entering Australia without the need for significant increases in ABF officers. The security benefits and efficiency of biometric facial images enable the ABF to focus the efforts of ABF officers on identifying persons of interest, protecting the Australian community and enabling legitimate travel and trade.

The last major changes to the Department's collection of biometrics were made by the Migration Amendment (Strengthening Biometrics Integrity) Act 2015. Since then, international standards have evolved and biometric technologies for facial images have advanced.

The amendments in Schedule 1 to this Bill will modernise and clarify the provisions of the Migration Act and Citizenship Act that enable the collection of facial images. The amendments will ensure the Department collects only what is required for biometric matching purposes. This includes clarifying the collection of facial images by authorised systems such as SmartGates, or through an online application.

The amendments in Schedule 1 will ensure the Department has express authority to collect and verify facial images whether that image is of a face, face and neck or face and shoulders—in line with international facial image standards and practices and current biometric technology.

Modernising terms and definitions in the legislation for facial images, and bringing them into line with agreed international standards—instead of using outdated terminology—provides greater certainty for the Australian Government and individuals going forward regarding a capability that underpins the integrity of the migration system.

Schedule 1 to the Bill clarifies what constitutes a facial image. It also introduces provisions that clarify how a person's photograph or facial image is provided to a SmartGate or the Minister under the Act. These amendments will ensure that the Department has clear legislative authority to collect what is required for biometric matching purposes, with flexibility reflected in the legislation to align with modern technologies.

The provisions also expressly allow for a SmartGate or the Department to derive a photograph or other image of a person's face, in circumstances where more of their body is captured. For example, if a person presents to a SmartGate and the original image includes their upper body. Importantly, the amendments in Schedule 1 do not expand on the current collection of facial images or existing powers to collect them—the amendments simply clarify what constitutes a facial image.

The collection and use of facial images is a longstanding feature of Australia's immigration and border management processes and systems. The amendments in Schedule 1 therefore also validate past actions taken by the Department in relation to facial images collected under the Migration Act and Citizenship Act as in force at the relevant time. This is a commonsense amendment, to make clear that an image of a face and neck (that didn't also include the person's shoulders) is appropriately a personal identifier for the purposes of the legislation. The amendments are clarifying amendments and will not result in any penalties or disadvantage to those who have previously provided facial images.

Special residence requirements for citizenship

The Bill alsoamends the Citizenship Actto amend the Minister's personal, discretionary power to determine that a person meets special residence under section 22A of the Act.

The amendments in Schedule 2 to the Bill will address residency barriers to Australian citizenship for persons who are engaging in an activity of benefit to Australia, and who are seeking to become an Australian citizen, but whose overseas absences relating to this activity impact their ability to meet the current general, special or alternative residence requirements.

The amendments will provide the Minister with the discretion, under the Minister's personal power, to determine that an applicant for Australian citizenship meets the special residency requirement under section 22A of the Citizenship Act, without needing to be satisfied they have been present in Australia for at least 180 days during the period of two years immediately before the day they make their application.

Currently under subsection 22A(1A) of the Act, the Minister has a personal, non-compellable power under the special residence requirement in relation to specific activities, where the Minister considers that the person engaging in a specified activity would be of benefit to Australia.

These activities are specified in a disallowable legislative instrument made for the purposes of the provision—and include a range of sporting competitions, including the Olympics, Paralympics, international tennis or cricket matches.

However, in some cases, the current provisions have failed to provide for the increased overseas training requirements associated with certain sports.

This is resulting in a significant missed opportunity for Australia to harness the significant contributions a person could make in terms of:

enhancing Australia's international reputation and

providing inspiration and motivation to other athletes and the Australian community at large.

The amendments in Schedule 2 will address this by allowing the Minister to exercise the Minister's personal power to determine that an applicant for Australian citizenship meets the special residence requirement without needing to be present in Australia for at least 180 days during the period of two years immediately before they made an application.

The Bill also makes a related amendment to remove the requirement that the applicant provides an undertaking that they will be present in Australia for a total of at least 180 days during the two-year period after acquiring Australian citizenship.

To continue to reinforce the importance of presence in Australia as a way of understanding the Australian way of life and the commitment made through the citizenship pledge, the applicant will still be required to provide an undertaking they will be ordinarily resident in Australia for two years immediately after they became an Australian citizen. The Bill also makes consequential amendments of other provisions of the Act, including associated revocation provisions, to reflect the changes to the undertaking.

Any applicant who applies under the special residence requirements will also continue to be required to meet all other relevant legislative requirements under the Citizenship Act to be approved to become an Australian citizen, including:

having permanent residence status;

being of good character; and

passing the citizenship test.

This legislation will ensure there is appropriate flexibility for applicants for Australian citizenship to participate in, for example, overseas training that may be required as part of their specified activity, while still spending sufficient time in Australia to understand the nature of Australian citizenship and the Australian way of life, and to call Australia home.

I commend this Bill to the Chamber.

THE SOCIAL SECURITY AND OTHER LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (TECHNICAL CHANGES NO. 2) BILL 2025

The Albanese Government is committed to further strengthening Australia's social safety net.

The Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical Changes No. 2) Bill 2025 is a significant step towards a fairer, more efficient social security system that better supports Australians when they need it most.

The Bill builds on the substantial investments the Government has made since the 2022 election. These include:

Raising the rate of working-age and student payments to help ease cost of living pressures. We have increased the rate of JobSeeker by almost $4,000 a year since we were elected.

Raising the Age Pension by almost $5,000 a year for a single person since we were elected, giving older Australians a better chance at a secure retirement.

Helping people to manage rental pressures by increasing maximum rates of Commonwealth Rent Assistance by almost 50%—someone paying $250 a week in rent could now be getting up to $1,800 a year in extra support since we were elected.

Providing more support through our changes to Parenting Payment Single, which has expanded eligibility for the payment to around 103,000 single parents.

Guaranteeing every new family 26 weeks of Paid Parental Leave by 2026, with superannuation now paid on top. That means parents are almost $12,000 better off than when we came to government.

We also established the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee, ensuring expert advice on the social security system is delivered directly to Government.

And we've improved the experience of engaging with the social security system, treating those needing support with dignity, transparency and respect.

Under the leadership of the Government Services Minister, Senator Gallagher, call wait times at Services Australia are down.

Claims processing at Services Australia is up.

We have worked hard to rebuild the system following the legacy of Robodebt. The Government accepted, or accepted in principle, all 56 recommendations made by the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme and 75 per cent of these are implemented or well progressed. We are committed to implementing the recommendations that remain.

This hard work has meaningfully improved the way we manage social security debts.

The use of external debt collection agencies has ended.

Individual circumstances are taken into account when recovering debts, including people's capacity to repay.

Payment accuracy has improved, preventing people from getting debts in the first place.

Services Australia has employed more social workers to better support people experiencing vulnerability.

Community legal services now have a secure and streamlined channel to Services Australia to support vulnerable people with debt.

But we recognise there is more to do.

This Bill is another important step by the Government to reform the way we manage social security debts.

It includes provisions that:

make social security debt raising more proportionate and cost-effective for taxpayers

enable victims of coercion and financial abuse to receive debt relief

and resolves the long-standing, historic issue of income apportionment, in the most responsible and cost-effective way that we can.

Debt Reform

The Bill will standardise and increase the threshold for waiving small social security debts for the first time in over 30 years, up from the current thresholds of $50 and $200 to a single, unified amount of $250.

Because we know that often, the administrative cost of recouping small, accidental debts is higher than the value of the debt itself, making the process of debt recovery uneconomical.

As a result of this change, we will wipe almost half of Australia's social security undetermined debt backlog. This backlog has grown exponentially in recent years, including due to pandemic-era measures. But through the amendments in this Bill, around 1.2 million undetermined debts are expected to be waived or no longer need to be raised in in 2025-26 alone.

It will mean Services Australia does not waste time or resources chasing small debts that are uneconomical to recover and will spare Australians with these small debts from significant stress. Setting the new threshold at $250 recognises people generally engage with the social security system in good faith, while continuing to ensure responsible fiscal management.

As well as increasing the waiver threshold to $250, we will now index it annually in July, in line with changes in the Consumer Price Index.

This change means people will no longer be disadvantaged by the decline in the waiver value over time.

At the same time, we will strengthen existing safeguards to ensure the waiver system cannot be manipulated. This includes situations where someone is found to be cheating the system to regularly have debts waived in this way.

The Bill also includes amendments to help deliver on our election commitment to embed safety in Commonwealth systems. Financial abuse and coercive control are serious forms of family and domestic violence. And these changes will better protect victim-survivors from coercive social security debt by expanding access to the special circumstances waiver.

This will mean it can be applied more widely and fairly, in situations where a person has genuine limitations on their ability to comply with their reporting requirements.

This includes cases of family and domestic violence, where a debt arises due to coercion or financial abuse.

To give just one example—a woman who we will call Ashley, was receiving the Disability Support Pension and Family Tax Benefit, while she was experiencing severe mental illness. During her illness, her former partner who was acting as her nominee incorrectly declared their family income and a debt of $7,000 was raised against Ashley. Under the status quo, Ashley would be denied the special circumstances waiver because her former partner knowingly made a false declaration.

But under the change we are proposing in this legislation, Services Australia workers would be given the discretion to take into account Ashley's illness as well as the controlling and abusive behaviour of her former partner, meaning she could be eligible for a waiver.

This is really important. The social security system should be there to assist vulnerable people when they need it most, not to punish them further.

This change responds to calls from stakeholders and addresses a recommendation of the 2024 Parliamentary Inquiry into Financial Abuse. It also delivers on our commitment to support victim-survivors under the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022-2032, and responds to recommendation 18.1 of the Robodebt Royal Commission, which called for Government to "take each person's circumstances into account before commencing recovery action" and to "respond appropriately and proportionately to cases of hardship".

Income apportionment

The Bill also includes provisions to provide legal clarity to the historic practice of income apportionment.

Income apportionment was used to assess income earned between 1991 and 2020. It has never been used by the Albanese Labor Government.

Income apportionment was a practice used for decades to determine social security debts for some income support recipients who received employment income.

The method involved using evidence from the individual, such as payslips, to determine their entitlement to a social security payment as part of calculating a debt. In circumstances where it wasn't clear what a person's daily earnings were from their payslip, Centrelink would sometimes spread a person's reported income across their payroll period so that it better matched with their systems.

Around 5.5 million social security debts, previously or currently held by around 3 million people and worth a total of $4.4 billion, may be potentially affected by income apportionment. 'Potentially affected', because we can't know if a debt is actually affected without a manual review of each individual debt.

The vast majority of these debts have already been paid off.

We know that income apportionment was adopted in good faith, with the Commonwealth Ombudsman stating that it reflected a genuinely held incorrect understanding of the law. This wasn't Robodebt.

It is important to remember that, based on sampling by Services Australia, in most cases individuals still owed a debt, but the amount owing was miscalculated at the edges.

But we do need to deal with its legacy in the most responsible and cost-effective way we can.

This Bill will resolve the historic use of income apportionment with a twofold approach, including:

Validating the use of income apportionment for past calculations and embedding the method for decisions to be made in the future concerning entitlement periods pre-December 2020. This approach puts past decisions on the same footing as future decisions and better accords with the way in which the social security system was administered. It also acknowledges that income apportionment was a reasonable method of assessment at the time, based on evidence provided by the individual, such as payslips.

Additionally, the Bill establishes an Income Apportionment Resolution Scheme for people with affected debts. This both acknowledges the error of income apportionment and facilitates a pathway for compensation in a manner that is streamlined, fair and fiscally responsible.

By validating the use of income apportionment, we will avoid the need to recalculate potentially millions of debts, many of which date back decades.

Reopening debts and manually recalculating them would cause distress and protracted uncertainty for the people affected. In many of these cases, the debts are decades old, have been repaid, and people have moved on with their lives.

It would also divert critical government resources totalling billions of dollars from frontline services that help people who need support now.

That's why we have to retrospectively validate the practice of income apportionment and embed it for future decisions that relate to debts from the pre-2020 period.

Resolution scheme

Alongside these amendments, the Bill will establish the Income Apportionment Resolution Scheme.

People with historic debts potentially affected by income apportionment from 20 September 2003 to 6 December 2020 will be eligible to apply for a resolution payment of up to $600, in recognition of the fact we now know this method of calculating entitlements was invalid.

Once established, the scheme will provide those affected a clear pathway to seek fair and reasonable compensation from the Government.

The Bill provides that the Minister may determine provisions related to the Scheme in a legislative instrument following commencement of Schedule 3. Operationalising the requirements of the Scheme in a legislative instrument provides flexibility for dealing with historic debts and the different circumstances of individuals impacted by income apportionment. The instrument will detail eligibility criteria, how to apply for the resolution payment, how to accept an offer of a resolution payment, how much the resolution payment will be and other important administrative details to ensure the effective delivery of the Scheme.

The amount received will reflect the size of the original debt.

The instrument will prescribe the amount of resolution payments. For debts under $200, the full debt amount would be repaid. For debts between $200 and $2000, the payment would be $200. For debts between $2000 and $5000, the payment would be $400. And for debts above $5000, the payment would be $600.

No-one is obliged to participate in this scheme or prevented from exercising any legal rights to pursue a claim relating to their debt.

The Albanese Labor Government believes in a strong social security system.

We will not demonise people for needing support, but we will also make sure we are achieving value for every dollar of taxpayer money spent.

Australia's social safety net should be there for people when they need it.

This Bill almost halves Australia's social security undetermined debt backlog. It extends support for victims of coercion and financial abuse. It brings resolution to the long-standing issue of income apportionment, with a pathway for compensation for those affected.

And it protects the integrity of the social security system.

I commend the Bill.

Debate adjourned.

Ordered that the bills be listed on the Notice Paper as separate orders of the day.