The Bill consists of 24 Amendments aimed at budget repair. The following table shows the act and amendments made in the Bill.

Act Amendment
Higher Education Support Act 2003

Minimum repayment threshold for HELP debts of 2% when income reaches $51,957 p.a. in the 2018-19 financial year

Indexation to CPI for all grants and regulated student contribution amounts
Higher Education Support Act 2003 and Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Discontinue the HECS-HELP benefit from 1 July 2017
Social Security Act 1991, Social Security (Administration) Act 1999, Farm Household Support Act 2014 and Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Discontinue job commitment bonus
Australian Renewable Energy Agency Act 2011 Reduce the agency’s available appropriation
Private Health Insurance Act 2007 Pause income thresholds for the Medicare levy surcharge and rebate on private health insurance for three more years from 1 July 2018
National Health Reform Act 2011 Abolish the National Health Performance Authority
Aged Care Act 1997

Increase the secretary’s compliance powers in relation to reviews of care recipient appraisals submitted by aged care providers to receive Commonwealth subsidies

Abolish adviser and administrator panel arrangements

Require approved providers to notify the secretary of certain changes to any of its key personnel in certain circumstances
Age Discrimination Act 2004, Dental Benefits Act 2008 and Human Services (Medicare) Act 1973 Close the Child Dental Benefits Schedule from 31 December 2016 and establish the Child and Adult Public Dental Scheme from 1 January 2017
Social Security Act 1991, Social Security Legislation Amendment (Newly Arrived Resident’s Waiting Periods and Other Measures) Act 1997 and Farm Household Support Act 2014 Remove the exemption from the 104 week newly arrived resident’s waiting period for new migrants who are family members of Australian citizens or long-term permanent residents
Social Security Act 1991, Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 and Student Assistance Act 1973

Cease the student start-up scholarship payment from 1 July 2017

Apply an interest charge to outstanding debt owed by former recipients of welfare payments who have not made an acceptable repayment arrangements

Enable departure prohibition orders to prevent particular social welfare debtors from leaving the country
A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999, Paid Parental Leave Act 2010, Social Security Act 1991 and Student Assistance Act 1973 Remove six-year limit on welfare debt recovery
Social Security Act 1991 and Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 Provide that parental leave payments and dad and partner pay payments are included in the income test for income support payments
A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999, Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 and Social Security Act 1991 Change treatment of fringe benefits under income tests for family assistance and youth income support payments and for related purposes
Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 Align carer allowance and carer payment start day provisions
New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 and Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 Pause indexation for family tax benefit (FTB) Part A, the primary earner income limit for FTB Part B and the Paid Parental Leave income limit for a further three years from 1 July 2017
Social Security Act 1991 and Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986 Remove the pension income and assets test exemptions currently available to pensioners in aged care who rent out their former home and pay their aged care accommodation costs by periodic payments
A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 and Social Security Act 1991 Remove the exemption from the income test for FTB Part A recipients and the exemption from the parental income test for certain dependent young people receiving youth allowance and ABSTUDY living allowance
Social Security Act 1991 Provide that certain persons cannot be paid social security payments when they are in psychiatric confinement because they have been charged with a serious offence
Income Tax Assessment Act 1997

Reduce the refundable and non-refundable rates of the tax offset available under the research and development tax incentive for the first $100 million of eligible expenditure

Require larger entities to provide payroll and superannuation information at the time it is created through the single touch payroll reporting framework
Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 Create a single appeal path for the review of original determinations made by the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission

Source: Parliament of Australia

The Bill as assented, explanatory memorandum and reading speeches can be found here here.

Comments are closed.