The amendments ‘will increase the existing newly arrived resident’s waiting period’
The Social Services Legislation Amendment (Encouraging Self-sufficiency for Newly Arrived Migrants) Bill 2018 has been renamed to Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Promoting Sustainable Welfare) Bill 2018. The Bill has passed the House of Representatives but still needs to pass the Senate (where it has already been read a first time) before it receives the Royal Assent. The explanatory memorandum includes the following passages:
[Schedule 1] will increase the existing newly arrived resident’s waiting period (NARWP) from 104 weeks to 156 weeks for various social security payments and concession cards and introduce a 156 week NARWP for bereavement allowance, widow allowance, parenting payment and carer allowance…
[Schedule 2] will increase the existing newly arrived resident’s waiting period (NARWP) from 104 weeks to 156 weeks for farm household allowance…
[Schedule 3] introduces a newly arrived resident’s waiting period (NARWP) for family tax benefit (FTB). The change does not affect child care related payments, double orphan pension or stillborn baby payment…
[Schedule 4] introduces a newly arrived resident’s waiting period (NARWP) for parental leave pay (PLP) or Dad and Partner pay (DaPP)…
The supplementary explanatory memorandum includes the following passages:
[Schedule 1] is amended by:
* increasing the newly arrived resident’s waiting periods for various working age payments and concession cards from 156 weeks to 208 weeks
* removing the increase to the newly arrived resident’s waiting period for carer payment
* increasing the newly arrived resident’s waiting periods introduced for bereavement allowance and parenting payment from 156 weeks to 208 weeks
* removing the newly arrived resident’s waiting period proposed for widow allowance
* decreasing the newly arrived resident’s waiting period introduced for carer allowance from 156 weeks to 52 weeks.
The application provisions for this Schedule are amended to exclude certain visa holders from the changes to the newly arrived resident’s waiting period…
[Schedule 2] is amended by increasing the newly arrived resident’s waiting period for farm household allowance from 156 weeks to 208 weeks.
The application provisions for this Schedule are amended to exclude certain visa holders from the changes to the newly arrived resident’s waiting period.
[Schedule 3] is amended by decreasing the newly arrived resident’s waiting period introduced for family tax benefit Part A from 156 weeks to 52 weeks and removing the waiting period for family tax benefit Part B.
This Schedule is also amended to exclude certain visa holders from being subject to the newly arrived resident’s waiting period.
This Schedule is also amended to clarify the operation of exemptions from the newly arrived resident’s waiting period for family tax benefit Part A.
[Schedule 4] is amended by decreasing the newly arrived resident’s waiting periods introduced for parental leave pay and dad and partner pay from 156 weeks to 104 weeks.
This Schedule is also amended to exclude certain visa holders from being subject to the newly arrived resident’s waiting period.
This Schedule is also amended to clarify the operation of exemptions from the newly arrived resident’s waiting periods for parental leave pay and dad and partner pay.
Disclaimer: the above is a mere summary of a Bill. The views expressed in those documents might not reflect the view of the Department, the AAT or the courts. The law or policies might have changed between the writing and reading of this article. The author of this article and Migration Law Updates disclaim any liability for any action (or omission) on their part based on any information provided (or not provided) in this article and are under no obligation to keep the general public nor practitioners informed about the matters discussed in this article or any other matters, or any future changes to any of those matters. It is the responsibility of each practitioner to obtain access to primary sources of law and policy by themselves and to carry out their own research and come to their own conclusions on legislation, case law, policies and more. This article is not intended for the general public.
Sergio Zanotti Stagliorio is a Registered Migration Agent (MARN 1461003). He is the owner of Target Migration in Sydney. He can be reached at sergio@targetmigration.com.au