Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to provide my support to the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical Changes No. 1) Bill 2026. Since the Albanese Labor government was first elected, we've been working to restore trust in Australia's social security system, and that trust matters. Without it, the system loses its legitimacy both for taxpayers and for recipients—and also for the broader community.

We all remember what happens when that trust breaks down. The legacy of robodebt showed us what occurs when governments ignore legality, ignore fairness and ignore the human consequences of administrative failure. The Albanese Labor government has chosen to take a very different approach. We've raised working age and student payments and increased the annual single rate of JobSeeker by almost $4,000. We've increased Commonwealth rent assistance by nearly 50 per cent. We've expanded parenting payments single to support around 106,000 additional single parents. We're expanding paid parental leave to 26 weeks, with superannuation now included, and we are increasing the small debt waiver threshold to $250, with around 1.2 million debts expected to be waived or not raised at all. We've also expanded debt waivers for victims-survivors of financial abuse. All of this is about rebuilding a system that is fair, that is lawful and that is humane. This bill is the next step in that work.

This is a technical bill—not just a technical bill but an essential one. The bill makes targeted amendments across three schedules: child support, urgent payments and employment income attribution. Each of these is about aligning legislation with the longstanding policy intent, improving administration and ensuring legal certainty.

First, on child support, this bill improves the administration of child support periods and fixes unintended consequences from earlier legislative changes. It also clarifies when a new child support period begins following a new tax assessment. Where an assessment is made after the 15th of the month, the new period will begin not in the next month but, in fact, in the month after. This is a practical reform. It ensures that parents are not given just days to adjust to changes in their financial obligations, which is the difference between thriving and surviving for families in real time. Instead, they are given sufficient time to plan and manage their finances.

Just as importantly, the bill corrects an anomaly that could allow a parent with less than 35 per cent care of a child to receive child support. This was never the intention of the parliament. The child support system is based on a clear principle: that the financial responsibility reflects the level of care. Where a parent has less than 35 per cent care, they are not bearing the primary costs of raising a child and should not receive child support. This bill restores that principle across all cases and across all formulas. It does so by retrospectively applying the correction to ensure consistency since 2008 whilst preserving the validity of past decisions and maintaining certainty for families. Importantly, as set out in the statement of compatibility with human rights, these changes promote the best interests of the child and support the right of the child to an adequate standard of living by ensuring that child support is distributed fairly and appropriately.

Secondly, on urgent payments, this bill provides a clear legislative framework for urgent payments, a longstanding feature of the social security system that, until now, has not had a sufficiently explicit legal basis. Urgent payments allow people to access part of their accrued entitlement early when they are experiencing exceptional and unforeseen circumstances. This is not an additional payment. Urgent payments allow people to access part of their accrued entitlement early when they are experiencing those exceptional and unforeseen circumstances. This is their lifeline, enabling people to manage sudden costs like medical expenses, housing instability or family emergency. Within this bill, it formalises that system. It establishes clear eligibility criteria, clear limits on payment amounts and safeguards to ensure that people do not overdraw against their entitlement. It also ensures that the system can be delivered efficiently through automated processes while still providing human support where needed, particularly for those who rely on urgent payments frequently. And it sits alongside broader investment, including increased funding for emergency relief services and expansion of the No Interest Loans Scheme to ensure people have access to safe, fair financial support. These reforms promote the right to social security and the right to an adequate standard of living by ensuring people can access support when they need it the most.

Thirdly, on employment income attribution, this bill clarifies how employment income, including a partner's income, is assessed for the purposes of social security payments. It is about ensuring that the income test operates as intended. It makes clear that employment income attribution applies to both the recipient and their partner and that income continues to be attributed across the relevant periods, even where payments are suspended, cancelled or restarted. Again, this is not a policy shift. It is a clarification. It ensures consistency. It removes ambiguity. It strengthens the integrity of the whole system.

This bill is about responsible government and about identifying where the law does not align with policy intent and fixing it. It is about ensuring that longstanding administrative practices have a clear legal foundation, and it is about continuing the work of rebuilding trust in Australia's social security system after years of neglect and failure. This bill strengthens the fairness, clarity and effectiveness of the system. This bill also supports families. It supports vulnerable Australians, and it supports confidence in the rule of law. I commend the bill to the Senate.