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

Again, can I articulate that the Greens were the only people who voted to support that particular amendment. By leave—I now move Australian Greens amendments (1) to (3) together on sheet 8315:

(1) Schedule 13, item 2, page 189 (line 14), omit "(1)".

(2) Schedule 13, item 2, page 189 (lines 17 to 20), omit subsection 28C(2).

(3) Schedule 14, item 7, page 193 (line 4), at the end of section 42U, add:

  (4) A determination under subsection 42U(3) does not apply in relation to a person who is a declared program participant.

These relate to schedule 13, which we've had quite a lot of discussion about previously where we've sought to remove these provisions. These are about declared program participants and serious failure determination not to apply to declared program participants. These amendments, as I said, relate to section 13. We're still concerned about some of the impacts, and it's not clear in this provision, on some of the exemptions around declared program participants.

I should say these amendments also relate to schedule 14. So there are amendments to schedule 13, item 2, and schedule 14, item 7. They remove subsection 28C(2), which gives the secretary the power to make provision in the determination made under subsection 21C(1) for the operation of the social security law in relation to people who become or stop being declared program recipients at a particular time, including in relation to things that happen before that time. They also amend schedule 14 to expressly exempt declared program participants.

During the Senate inquiry, issues were raised around the impact of sections 13 and 14 as they relate to declared program participants. We're seeking here to make it clearer about those declared program participants. These relate to those sections around drug and alcohol addiction. I'm not going to traverse those whole arguments again, because we did have substantive discussions on those around our previous amendments, the ALP's amendments and Senator Leyonhjelm's amendments. I'm not going to traverse those again. This is seeking to address some issues where the legislation is a bit grey in those particular areas, specifically as they relate to declared program participants.