House of Representatives

Supplementary Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by the authority of the Minister for Social Services, the Hon Christian Porter MP)

Schedule 12 - Establishment of a drug testing trial

Summary

The amendments to Schedule 12 of the Bill amend the definition of drug test trial pool member to be inserted into subsection 23(1) of the Social Security Act and new subsections 123UFAA(1C) and (1D) of the Social Security Administration Act.

Background

Schedule 12 of the Bill enables mandatory drug testing to be trialled for two years for new recipients of Newstart Allowance and Youth Allowance (other) in three regions from 1 January 2018. Recipients who test positive to the initial drug test will be subject to income management for a 24 month period.

New recipients of Newstart Allowance and Youth Allowance (other) who reside in the drug test trial area will be randomly selected to undertake a drug test. It was intended that recipients who resided in a drug test trial area when making a claim for Newstart Allowance or Youth Allowance (other), as well as those who claimed one of these payments while residing outside a trial location but subsequently moved into a drug test trial area, could be selected for drug testing. However, due to the definition of drug test trial pool member which is to be inserted into subsection 23(1) of the Social Security Act, new recipients who make a claim for one of these payments, while residing outside a drug test trail area but later move into the area, are excluded from the drug testing trial. The amendment to Schedule 12 will correct this and give effect to the Government's proposed policy as intended.

Amendments will also be made to new subsections 123UFAA(1C) and (1D) of the Social Security Administration Act in Schedule 12 following comments by the Senate Scrutiny of Bills Committee about the operation of subsection 123UFAA(1D). To address the Committee's concerns, the amendments will ensure that if information comes to the Secretary's attention that indicates income management may seriously risk the person's wellbeing, the Secretary must determine that the person is not subject to the income management regime if the Secretary is satisfied that being subject to that regime would pose a serious risk to the person's mental, physical and emotional wellbeing.

However, the amendments ensure that the Secretary has no obligation to make inquiries about a person's wellbeing. Any such inquiry about a person's wellbeing would need to be comprehensive and conducted by appropriate professionals. The inclusion of subsection 123UFAA(1D) ensures that this inquiry, which would be unnecessary for most people and administratively burdensome, would not be undertaken unless it came to the Secretary's attention that there was a serious risk to a person's mental, physical or emotional wellbeing.

Explanation of provisions

Amendment 5 removes paragraph (d) of the definition of drug test trial pool member in item 1 of Schedule 12 so that a person whose usual place of residence at the time of making a claim is outside the drug test trial area is no longer excluded from being required to give a sample for the purposes of a drug test. Accordingly, a person is a drug test trial pool member a time if:

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that time is in the drug test trial period; and

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at that time the person's usual place of residence is in a drug test trial area; and

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the person, as a result of a claim made in the drug test trial period, is receiving newstart allowance or youth allowance (other) (that is, a youth allowance recipient who is not a full-time student of a youth allowance Australian apprentice); and

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if the claim was for youth allowance - the claim was for youth allowance (other).

Amendment 6 amends subsection 123UFAA(1C) in item 24 of Schedule 12 to omit the word 'may' and replace it with 'must'. The effect of this amendment is that the Secretary must determine that a person is not subject to the income management regime under subsection 123UFAA(1A) if the Secretary is satisfied that being subject to income management poses a serious risk to the person's mental, physical or emotional wellbeing.

Amendment 7 amends subsection 123UFAA(1D) in item 24 of Schedule 12 to omit the words 'consider whether to make a determination under subsection (1C)' and replace them with 'inquire into whether a person being subject to the income management regime under subsection (1A) poses a serious risk to the person's mental, physical or emotional wellbeing'. The effect of this amendment means that although the Secretary is not required to inquire into a person's wellbeing when the person becomes subject to income management, if the Secretary becomes aware that the person's mental, physical or emotional wellbeing may be affected by being on income management, the Secretary must determine that the person is not subject to the regime if satisfied that being subject to the regime poses a serious risk.