Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Strengthening the Safety Net) Bill 2023

The majority voted against an amendment introduced by Victorian Senator Janet Rice (Greens), which means it failed.

What does the amendment do?

Senator Rice explained that:

This amendment is about implementing one of the recommendations from the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme ...

We have legislation before us today to amend the Social Security Act. It is a very straightforward thing, as per my amendment, to reinstate the provisions that were there before the Abbott government's changes. This recommendation isn't complex. It's not one of the complex robodebt royal commission recommendations. I understand the arguments from the government that we need to implement those recommendations slowly and carefully. I accept that for most of them, but that's not the case for this one ...

In the meantime, here is a very straightforward opportunity to provide some justice for people by putting in place the provision as it used to be—to say that debts that are more than six years old should not be pursued. We don't know when the full suite of changes, after the government's careful consideration of them, are going to come into place. It might be years off. In the meantime, at least do this. It was a very simple recommendation of the royal commission and it's something that could easily be done today.