Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I present an addendum to the explanatory memorandum. This bill makes amendments to the Student Assistance Act in relation to Abstudy and Assistance for Isolated Children, known as the AIC scheme. Abstudy provides support to Indigenous secondary and tertiary students and apprentices, while the AIC scheme provides support to isolated primary and secondary students. In 2020, about 27,000 students were assisted through the Abstudy scheme and around 13,000 through the AIC scheme.

The Student Assistance Act provides the legislative framework for Abstudy and AIC matters, including in relation to tax file number collection and information management. This bill amends provisions in the act to provide greater clarity around their operational intent and, where appropriate, aligns them with equivalent provisions within social security legislation to reduce red tape and improve operational efficiency. The amendments in the bill do not impose an additional administrative burdens on recipients and in some cases will reduce it.

This bill makes a number of technical amendments to social services legislation to confirm that the definition of 'social security law' includes legislative instruments. This bill strengthens our student support system so that it can focus on the important task of ensuring that Indigenous students and isolated students from across Australia have the opportunity to gain a first-class education. In response to the Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills, I thank the committee for their work, and to address their concerns I have tabled an addendum explanatory memorandum.

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