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

I appreciate the minister guaranteeing commitment on that issue. As I said, we won't be moving that amendment. I will just flag that I suspect this is something that is going to come up during the review over the first 12 months to see how easily it is understood and whether it has caused problems.

I move Greens amendment (1) on sheet 8885, which relates to the secretary's discretion:

  (1) Schedule 1, item 37, page 10 (after line 32), after subsection 1073BA(2), insert:

  (2A) For the purposes of subsection (2), when determining such period a person is taken to have received employment income over, the Secretary must consider the following:

  (a) the nature of the person's remunerative work;

  (b) the nature of the person's employment income, including the matters in subsections 8(1A)-(1C);

  (c) any hardship which may be caused to the person by attributing employment income over such period;

  (d) whether the employment income relates to remunerative work that was undertaken at a time when the person was not receiving a social security pension or a social security benefit.

I indicated in my second reading contribution that we had some concerns around this, in making sure we articulate what the secretary's discretion is to attribute employment income that does not have a corresponding time frame, such as a Christmas bonus over a certain period. There are currently no guidelines or limitations on how the secretary should exercise their discretion, which we are concerned about. We think there need to be some parameters or an outline around that. The way income is assessed has consequences for how people manage their budgets, eligibility for income support payments and whether the secretary attributes a bonus; for example, a Christmas bonus and any other bonus over two or 52 weeks has potential real-life implications. We think this amendment will significantly help to clarify that and will put some guidance around the form of the secretary's discretion.