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

I am at least pleased to hear that the minister and the opposition believe that it could be taken as reasonableness. It makes that a little bit clearer. We believe, however, the more appropriate approach would be to include it in the legislation. We believe a specific reference to reasonableness is necessary, particularly for vulnerable job seekers because we are specifically worried about them. As I said earlier, because of behaviour that may on the face of it be considered to be misconduct but behind which there are underlying factors—such as undiagnosed mental illness or harassment at work—we need to expand what could be considered reasonableness and to clarify very specifically in the legislation that it is accepted as reasonableness.

Question negatived.

by leave—I move Greens amendments (4) and (10) on sheet 5655 revised 2:

(4)    Schedule 1, item 1, page 6 (line 5), at the end of subsection 42C(5), add “, provided that the penalty amount may not be deducted until at least the instalment after the first instalment made following notification to the person of the no show no pay failure”.

(10)  Schedule 1, item 1, page 9 (line 35), at the end of subsection 42H(5), add “, provided that the penalty amount may not be deducted until at least the instalment after the first instalment made following notification to the person of the reconnection failure”.

These items are around the timing of deduction for the penalty amount. These amendments provide that, when deducting the payment for no show, no pay penalties or reconnection penalties, the deductions can occur only in the instalment period after the first instalment period following the notification to the person of the failure. So, rather than the deduction happening immediately or in the period directly after the failure, this amendment gives people time to prepare for their loss of income. We think this is reasonable. They still incur the penalty but there is time for them to prepare for it. As I said, the penalty is still applied and it also gives time for Centrelink to ensure that they are in fact making the right decision. Under the legislation, the timing is pretty tight. This allows both Centrelink to make that decision and the person to prepare, and they still cop the penalty.