House of Representatives

Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Indigenous Australians, the Honourable Ken Wyatt AM MP)

GENERAL OUTLINE

1. This Bill provides for consequential amendments to Commonwealth Acts to facilitate the implementation of certain aspects of the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (the Scheme).

The Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme

2. The Scheme is for survivors of the Stolen Generations who were removed as children from their families whilst in the Northern Territory or the Australian Capital Territory (prior to their respective self-government) or the Jervis Bay Territory. The Scheme is intended to operate from 1 March 2022 to 30 June 2026, and will be open for applications between 1 March 2022 and 28 February 2026.

3. The Scheme will provide to eligible participants:

a.

a one-off redress payment to recognise the harm caused by forced removal;

b.

a one-off healing assistance payment in recognition that the action required to facilitate healing will be specific to each individual (the redress payment and the healing assistance payment are hereafter referred to as 'the redress payment');

c.

the opportunity, if they choose, to confidentially tell their story about the impact of their removal to a senior official within government and receive a face-to-face or written direct personal response acknowledging the trauma caused by removal.

Consequential amendments to Commonwealth Acts

4. As the redress payment is in recognition of the harm caused by forced removal and is aimed at healing, the objective of the Bill is to ensure that eligible participants will receive the full benefit of the redress payment and that receipt of the payment does not adversely affect income testing for other Commonwealth payments or benefits. This is achieved by making amendments to the Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Bankruptcy Act), the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITA Act), the Social Security Act 1991 (Social Security Act) and the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (Veterans' Entitlements Act).

5. To verify the identity of applicants, it may be necessary to cross-check identity information provided by applicants with information held by the Department of Social Services or Services Australia (for example, where an applicant provides a Centrelink customer reference number as a personal identifier). To facilitate such cross-checks, amendments are made to the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 (Social Security Administration Act).

FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT

6. The Australian Government has committed $378.6 million over the 2021 to 2026 financial years to establish the Scheme.

STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS

7. The statement of compatibility with human rights appears at the end of this explanatory memorandum.