Schedule 1 – Child Support

Schedule 1 amends the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 to address two main issues [cite: EM p. 2, 7; BD p. 3].

Child Support Periods: The Bill clarifies the commencement date of new child support periods when the Child Support Registrar (the Registrar) receives an updated tax assessment for a parent. Historically, if an assessment was made after the 15th day of a month, the new child support period would commence on the first day of the month after the next, rather than the first day of the next month. This practice, intended to give parents more notice to adjust their finances, is now legislatively codified [cite: EM p. 2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 13; BD p. 3, 7-8]. The amendments also retrospectively validate past decisions made in accordance with this practice, ensuring legal certainty for affected parties [cite: EM p. 2, 8, 14, 15; BD p. 3].
Less than 35% care: This part corrects unintended consequences of prior legislative amendments, specifically from the Family Assistance and Child Support Legislation Amendment (Protecting Children) Act 2018 and the Child Support Legislation Amendment (Reform of the Child Support Scheme – New Formula and Other Measures) Act 2006 [cite: EM p. 2, 8; BD p. 5]. The policy intention has always been that a person with less than 35% care of a child should not be entitled to child support [cite: EM p. 8; BD p. 4]. However, an anomaly in Formulas 1 and 3 of the child support assessment formulas meant that, in some situations (e.g., involving an ineligible third-party carer or 'gap period' scenarios), a parent with less than 35% care could technically be entitled to child support [cite: EM p. 9, 10]. The Bill amends sections 35, 37, and 40C of the Assessment Act to ensure this policy intent applies consistently across all child support formulas [cite: EM p. 2, 18]. These changes apply retrospectively, with effects dating back to 1 July 2008 or 1 July 2018 depending on the specific issue, and validate past decisions made by the Registrar in line with the policy intent [cite: EM p. 2, 8, 10, 19, 20; BD p. 3, 4, 5, 6].

Schedule 2 – Urgent Payments

Schedule 2 amends the Social Security Act 1991 and the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 to provide clear legislative authority for urgent payments to eligible social security recipients [cite: EM p. 3, 21, 52; BD p. 3, 8]. Urgent payments are an existing mechanism allowing for the early delivery of a portion of a social security recipient's accrued entitlement, outside of the standard fortnightly payment cycle, to assist those experiencing exceptional and unforeseen circumstances [cite: EM p. 3, 21, 25, 53; BD p. 8].

The Bill establishes a legislative framework for these payments, including eligibility criteria, a method for calculating the amount (between $20 and $200 per single urgent payment), and limits [cite: EM p. 3, 24, 26, 29, 30]. It supports the use of computer programs for automated decision-making while ensuring that frequent recipients are prompted to discuss their circumstances with Services Australia to identify potential alternative supports [cite: EM p. 3, 27, 28, 39, 40]. The amendments also clarify that a person cannot receive both weekly payments and urgent payments for the same instalment period [cite: EM p. 25].

Schedule 3 – Employment Income Attribution Rules

Schedule 3 amends the employment income attribution rules in Division 1AA of Part 3.10 of the Social Security Act 1991 [cite: EM p. 3, 41, 53; BD p. 3, 9]. The amendments clarify the intended operation of these rules, particularly ensuring they apply to attribute employment income paid to a social security recipient or their partner, for the purposes of calculating the recipient's rate of payment. This applies regardless of whether the relevant payment is a social security pension or benefit, and whether or not the partner is receiving a social security payment [cite: EM p. 3, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 53; BD p. 3, 9].

The Bill also preserves the effect of employment income attribution for the duration of an attributed income period, even if the social security recipient's payment is cancelled or suspended and then later resumed, or if they claim a new payment [cite: EM p. 3, 42, 46, 47]. Additionally, it clarifies that if a recipient's partner ceases to be a member of a couple, the partner's employment income attribution will be nil for those days when calculating the recipient's payment rate [cite: EM p. 44, 46, 48, 49].

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