Summary

Amends: seven Acts to create a jobseeker payment to replace seven existing payments as the main payment for people of working age from 20 March 2020; 10 Acts to provide for the cessation of the widow B pension, wife pension, bereavement allowance, sickness allowance, widow allowance and partner allowance; the Social Security Act 1991 to: remove the ability of newstart allowance and certain special benefit recipients aged 55 to 59 to satisfy the activity test by engaging in voluntary work for at least 30 hours per fortnight; and remove certain exemptions for drug or alcohol dependence; the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 to: provide that a job seeker’s newstart allowance or youth allowance be payable from the date they attend their initial appointment with their employment services provider; ensure that job seekers are not able to use drug or alcohol dependency as an excuse for failing to meet their requirements; introduce a new compliance framework for mutual obligation requirements in relation to participation payments; and enable the Department of Human Services to require applicants to provide their tax file number at the time of a claim; the Social Security Act 1991 and Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 to: provide that claimants receive payments from the date they lodge a complete claim; and establish a two year drug testing trial in three regions for 5000 new recipients of newstart allowance and youth allowance; the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999, Paid Parental Leave Act 2010, Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 and Student Assistance Act 1973 to enable certain information obtained in the course of an administrative action to be used in subsequent investigations and criminal proceedings; and the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 to exempt three social security laws from the operation of the Act. Also: enables the minister to make rules of a transitional nature in relation to the cessation of payments; and makes consequential amendments to the Farm Household Support Act 2014, Social Security Act 1991 and Social Security (Administration) Act 1999.