Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Sorry, Mr Temporary Chairman, the running sheet is a bit misleading. Amendment (3) is in fact not consequential to amendment (2); it relates to indexation. I move Greens amendment (3) on sheet 5503 revised:

(3)    Schedule 6, page 42 (after line 27), after item 20, insert:

20G  After section 124A

Insert:

124AA Indexation of amounts

        (1)    This section applies to the dollar amounts mentioned in the following provisions:

             (a)    subsection 5B(1E) (method statement, step 2)

             (b)    subsection 5B(1E) (method statement, step 3, paragraph (b));

             (c)    subsection 65J(2B) (method statement, step 2, paragraph (b)).

        (2)    The dollar amount mentioned in the provision, for an indexation year whose indexation factor is greater than 1, is replaced by the amount worked out using the following formula (rounded to the nearest $100):

        (3)    The indexation factor for an indexation year is the number worked out using the following formula:

        (4)    The AWOTE amount for a quarter is the estimate of the full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings for persons in Australia for the middle month of the quarter published by the Australian Statistician in relation to the month.

        (5)    If the Australian Statistician publishes an estimate of full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings for persons in Australia for a period for which such an estimate was previously published by the Australian Statistician, the publication of the later estimate is to be disregarded for the purposes of this section.

        (6)    The indexation factor is to be calculated to 3 decimal places, but increased by .001 if the fourth decimal place is more than 4.

        (7)    In this section:

AWOTE means full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings for all persons in Australia.

indexation year means the financial year commencing on 1 July 2009, and each subsequent financial year.

This amendment relates to indexation of the cap. I appreciate that we have exercised these issues extensively during the previous debate but, as I articulated during the debate, the cap has not been indexed since 2000. The Greens are therefore seeking to put in place an indexation mechanism so that the cap is not left at the $30,000 limit. Of course, it would have been preferable if the indexation were occurring to a cap that was in fact $40,000 rather than $30,000. I will not go through the arguments again because, as I said, I think we have covered them pretty extensively. I commend this amendment to the chamber because it will go part way to dealing with the issues that we have previously discussed.

Question negatived.