Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to incorporate extra information in relation to a question asked by Senator Siewert during question time on 17 October.

Leave granted..

The answer read as follows—

• A job seeker would not be ‘breached’ as a consequence of being paid less than the minimum wage.
• Unemployment payment recipients who are principal carer parents, who are 55 years or over or who have a partial capacity to work are taken to have met their activity test requirements when undertaking employment of 30 hours or more per fortnight at a sufficient level of remuneration. The amount required to be earned is the lesser of the wage rate that is applicable to the person, given their age and the type of work they are undertaking, and the Federal Minimum Wage.
• The remuneration test is intended to ensure that people cannot avoid the activity test simply by declaring that they are working (for example in self-employment) but earning little or no money.
• If a person was working 30 or more hours but did not meet the remuneration test, their work would not count towards them meeting their requirements and they would be required to undertake job search. They would be referred to a Provider of Australian
• Government Employment Services to assist them in their efforts to find better paid work. They would not be ‘breached’ for failing to satisfy the remuneration test.
• Nor would a person who gave up work that paid below the minimum wage or other applicable statutory conditions for that work be penalised. This is because such work could not be considered suitable work under Social Security Law.

In response to the supplementary question, Centrelink advises that:

• Centrelink staff do not review the adequacy of a customer’s pay unless it relates to the suitability of that job. Centrelink will review customers whose declared income is of a low level in comparison to the number of hours that they work to ensure payment correctness.