Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

The Social Security Legislation Amendment (Increased Employment Participation) Bill 2014 is about providing assistance to young people. It creates the job commitment bonus for young Australians aged 18 to 30 who have been receiving Newstart allowance or youth allowance, of course other than those who are apprentices or full-time students for a period of at least 12 months. The bill also allows for a tax-free payment of $2,500 dollars if they remain in gainful work and are off income support for a continuous period of at least 12 months.

According to the bill, recipients will also qualify for a further tax-free bonus payment of $4,000 if they remain in continuous gainful work for a further 12 months—that is, 24 months of continuous work for the full payment of $6,500 dollars. This bill also mentions the relocation assistance to take up a job program, providing financial assistance to long-term unemployed job seekers with participation requirements, who have also been receiving Newstart, youth allowance, other than those that are apprentices or full-time students, or parenting payment, for at least the preceding 12 months, to relocate for the purposes of commencing ongoing employment. According to the legislation, this program is to be demand-driven and provide up to $6,000 to support eligible job seekers relocating to a regional area, or up to $3,000 to support eligible job seekers relocating to a metropolitan area, with an additional $3,000 for families with dependant children who are relocating.

Interestingly, it does appear that the legislation is not required to allow for this payment as it is simply an increase in payments that already exist. However, I note that this bill also allows for a -payment period for participants who leave their employment without good reason within six months after receiving this payment of 26 weeks, rather than the 12 weeks which currently apply to the relocation payments made under Labor's Move 2 Work program. Labor is very concerned about the doubling of this non-payment period for those recipients who take up the relocation assistance to take up a job program where something may stop this individual from working—26 weeks seems particularly harsh. I note that there is a hardship provision for people adversely affected by this and I trust that it will be used. I want to quote the following from the explanatory memorandum to the bill:

… affected persons will still have the benefit of the usual operation of existing hardship waiver provisions, so that the non-payment period will not prevent a person from accessing essentials, for example basic levels of health care, housing, or sanitation. In particular, the current subsection 42S(4) provides that a person’s unemployment non-payment period may be ended on the grounds of severe financial hardship if the person is within a class of persons specified in a legislative instrument made under subsection 42S(5)[3] … this will continue to apply.

Labor is not supportive of this extension to the non-payment period and accordingly we would like to see the government commit to reviewing the impact on these recipients publicly, particularly on its impact on job seekers' ability to find work, to maintain accommodation and to maintain a reasonable lifestyle. Labor does not accept that a person can receive no income support payments for six months and still be ready to work. Youth unemployment is a big issue for Australia and for young Australians. In government, Labor focused on supporting young people to finish school and to get the training and higher education they needed for well-paying jobs. As a government we considered a whole range of different policies to address the issue of youth unemployment. It is one of the most important issues any government faces. Indeed, under Labor, we improved training and employment services for young people.

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