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

I thank the minister for undertaking to come back to us; I cannot thank him for his answer! The other issue that I would also like to clarify is that, during the committee inquiry, we established that people who become eligible and apply for the education entry payment will still have to go through the normal process that exists under current regulations and rules. That is, if you are on Newstart, you will either come off Newstart and go onto some other income-support process or it will be part of the activity agreement, which, presumably, will in the future then transfer to your employment pathway plan. That will take some time. What start date does the government envisage for this to roll out to people currently on Newstart who are receiving other income support and who are eligible for this supplementary payment? Quite clearly it is going to start and funds will become available much later than the other payments because of that more complicated process.