Commonwealth Numbered Regulations - Explanatory Statements

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AUSTUDY REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT) 1998 NO. 33

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Statutory Rules 1999 No. 33

Issued by the authority of the Minister for Schools, Vocational Education and Training

Subject: Student and Youth Assistance Act 1973

AUSTUDY Regulations (Amendment)

The Student and Youth Assistance Act 1973 provides the legislative authority for the AUSTUDY scheme. Section 56 of the Act provides that the Governor-General may make regulations for the purposes of the Act.

The Government announced in the 1997-98 Budget that the Sole Parent Pension and the Parenting Allowance which are provided under the Social Security Act 1991 would be replaced by the Parenting Payment. The new payment, introduced through changes made by the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Parenting and Other Measures) Act 1997, will commence on 20 March 1998.

The amending regulations provide for the continuation of current AUSTUDY arrangements relating to recipients of the Sole Parent Pension and the Parenting Allowance after these payments are amalgamated into the new Parenting Payment.

The Parenting Payment (PP) will have two components - one for persons who are not a member of a couple (to be called "pension PP (single)") and one for persons who are a member of a couple (to be called "PP (partnered)"). Parenting Allowance (PgA) recipients will transfer to the "PP (partnered)" component. The "PP (partnered)" component will comprise a "non-benefit PP (partnered)" payment, equivalent to the current non-benefit PgA, and a "benefit PP (partnered)" payment, equivalent to the current benefit PgA.

Most Sole Parent Pensioner (SPP) recipients will transfer to the "pension PP (single)" component, retaining their pensioner status. However, some SPP recipients have a partner from whom they are temporarily separated by illness or imprisonment. When this group transfers to the PP they will receive the "benefit PP (partnered)" component and lose their pensioner status.

Subregulations 4.1, 5.1 and 5.2 and regulation 11 omit "sole parent pension", "sole parent pensioner" and "sole parent pensioner student" from various places in the regulations and substitute appropriate references to "pension PP (single)". Regulation 7 and subregulation 8.1 omit "benefit parenting allowance" from various places in the regulations and substitute "benefit PP (partnered)".

The amendments also include "grandfathering" provisions for persons who are receiving the SPP but who will be transferred to "benefit PP (partnered)" so that the AUSTUDY provisions that currently apply to SPP recipients, including eligibility for the Pensioner Education Supplement, continue to apply to this group (subregulations 3.1, 4.2, 6.1 and 8.2 and regulation 9).

Other related amendments are made to paragraph 22(2)(a) and regulations 63 and 109 by subregulations 3.2 and 6.2 and regulation 10 respectively.

Regulation 1 provides that these regulations commence on 20 March 1998.

The Attachment contains more details about the amendments.

ATTACHMENT

DETAILS OF THE AUSTUDY REGULATIONS (AMENDMENT)

Regulation 1         Commencement

Regulation 1 provides that these regulations commence on 20 March 1998.

Regulation 2         Amendment

Regulation 2 provides that the AUSTUDY Regulations are amended as set out in these regulations.

Changes to terminology

Regulation 4       Regulation 52 (Recognition of students with disabilities and students

        getting certain pensions)

Regulation 5       Regulation 55 (Students with disabilities and students getting

        certain pensions: total length of tertiary study)

Regulation 7       Regulation 64 (Is there additional allowance for a spouse?)

Regulation 8       Regulation 91 (Concession to the parental income test: (c) pensions

        and allowances)

Regulation 11       Schedule 1 (Pensions and allowances)

The regulations make the following changes to the terminology in regulations 52, 55, 64 and 91 and schedule 1:

*       subregulation 4.1 omits "sole parent pension" from subparagraph 52(1)(c)(i) and substitutes "pension PP (single)";

*       subregulation 5.1 omits "sole parent pensioner student" from subregulation 55(3) and substitutes "student who receives pension PP (single) under Part 2.10 of the Social Security Act 1991";

*       subregulation 5.2 omits "sole parent pensioner" from paragraph 55(3)(a) and subparagraphs 55(3)(b)(i) and (ii) and substitutes "recipient of pension PP (single)";

*       regulation 7 omits "benefit parenting allowance" from subparagraph 64(1)(c)(i) and substitutes "benefit PP (partnered)";

*       subregulation 8.1 omits "benefit parenting allowance" from subparagraph 91(1)(d)(ii) and substitutes "benefit PP (partnered)"; and

*       regulation 11 omits item 6 from Group B of Schedule 1 ("Sole parent pension (Part 2.6 of the Social Security Act 1991")) and substitutes "Pension PP (single) (Part 2.10 of the Social Security Act 1991)".

"Grandfathering" provisions

Regulation 3       Regulation 22 (Excluded: (b) students getting certain pensions and

        allowances)

Regulation 4       Regulation 52 (Recognition of students with disabilities and students

        getting certain pensions)

Regulation 6       Regulation 63 (Who gets special rate living allowance?)

Regulation 8       Regulation 91 (Concession to the parental income test: (c) pensions

        and allowances)

Regulation 9       Regulation 98 (Can students with pensions get AUSTUDY?)

Subregulations 3.1, 4.2 and 6.1 and regulation 9 insert a "grandfathering" provision into subregulations 22(1) and 52(1), paragraph 63(1)(a) and regulation 98 respectively to provide that the outcomes described in these provisions apply to a student who gets benefit PP (partnered) in circumstances where the student was qualified for the SPP immediately before 20 March 1998, because of.

*       his or her partner being in gaol for a continuous period of at least 14 days;

*       or the illness or infirmity of his or her partner where the illness or infirmity resulted in:

- the partner being unable to care for a child; and

- the student being unable to live with his or her partner in a matrimonial home;

and was, in the opinion of the Secretary to the Department of Social Security, likely to continue indefinitely; and that either of the above mentioned situations still exists.

"Partner" has the same meaning as in the Social Security Act 1991 (new subregulation 22(IB) which is inserted by subregulation 3.1).

Subregulation 8.2 inserts the same "grandfathering" provision into subregulation 91(1) except that a reference to the "student" is replaced by a reference to the "parent". These provisions mean that:

*       the student described in paragraph 22(1)(b) cannot get AUSTUDY living allowance while he or she receives benefit PP (partnered);

*       the student described in paragraph 52(1)(ca) can continue to access the workload concession provided in regulations 53 to 55;

*       the student described in subparagraph 63(1)(a)(iii) can continue to access the special rate of living allowance;

*       a student with a parent who is the person described in paragraph 91(1)(e) can continue to benefit from "special assessment"; and

*       the student described in subregulation 98(3) can continue to get the pensioner education supplement.

Other amendments

Regulation 3       Regulation 22 (Excluded: (b) students getting certain pensions and

        allowances)

Regulation 22 provides that certain students cannot get AUSTUDY. Paragraph 22(2)(a) provides that a student cannot get AUSTUDY for a period in a year before the start of a course if, for that period, the student receives, inter alia, PgA. Subregulation 3.2 omits the reference to "parenting allowance" from paragraph 22(2)(a) and substitutes "benefit PP (partnered) (other than in the circumstances mentioned in subregulations (1A) and (1C))". Subregulations 22(1A) and (IC) are inserted by subregulation 3.1.

Regulation 6       Regulation 63 (Who gets special rate living allowance?)

Regulation 63 provides for the special rate of living allowance. Paragraph 63(1)(a) provides that a person who was 21 years old when he or she started his or her course and had been getting a payment listed in subparagraphs (i) or (ii), which includes the SPP, for a period of 26 of the immediately preceding 39 weeks qualifies for the special rate. The SPP is replaced by pension PP (single) by regulation 11. Subregulation 6.2 inserts new subregulation 63(3) to provide that, for the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), a student who received SPP for a day is taken to have received pension PP (single) for that day. The effect of this provision is that the special rate is available to a person who has received a combination of SPP and pension PP (single) for 26 of the 39 weeks immediately preceding his or her transfer to AUSTUDY.

Regulation 10 Regulation 109       (What changes in circumstances must the Department be told about?)

Subregulation 109(1) sets out the "prescribed events" about which a student must tell the Department. The notifiable events relating to a student's spouse are set out in paragraph 109(1)(b). Subregulation 10.1 inserts a new subparagraph in paragraph 109(1)(b) to require a student to tell the Department if his or her spouse starts to receive benefit PP (partnered) under Part 2.10 of the Social Security Act 1991. Subregulation 10.2 inserts anew paragraph in subregulation 109(1) to require a student who gets pensioner education supplement in the circumstances stated in subregulations 22(1A) and (1C) (which are inserted by subregulation 3.1) to tell the Department if the situation described in paragraph 22(1A)(a) or (b) ceases to exist.


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