Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2013

The majority voted in favour of a motion to read the bill for a third time.(Read more about the stages that a bill must pass through to become law here. ) This means that the majority agree with the bill and that it has now passed in the Senate. It will now be sent back to the House of Representatives for them to consider whether they agree with the amendments made in the Senate.

Background to the bill

The bill was introduced to make a number of key changes. These include:

• amending the National Gambling Reform Act 2012 to implement parts of the Government’s responsible gambling policy;
• amending the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 so that the income management aspect of the Cape York Welfare Reform initiative can continue for a further two years;
• amending the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 and the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 so that Family Tax Benefit Part A can only be paid up to the end of the calendar year in which a teenager is completing senior secondary school.(Read more about these measures in the bills digest.)

There are several other measures introduced by this bill that can be explored in its bills digest.

Most of the measures are savings measures that had been announced by the previous Labor Government in the 2013–14 Budget, the 2012–13 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO) or the 2012–13 Budget. However, the gambling reform measures, the Cape York Welfare Reform measures and the changes to Paid Parental Leave arrangements(Read about the changes to Paid Parental Leave arrangements in the bills digest.) are newly proposed by the current Government.