|
Navigation: Previous Page | Contents | Next Page
Introduced into the House of
Representatives on 27 June 2012
Portfolio: Veterans' Affairs
1.2
The committee considers that this bill is compatible with human rights
as defined in the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
1.3
The committee notes that the bill advances the right to health and the
right to social security contained in Article 12 and Article 9 of the
International Covenant on Economic, Cultural and Social Rights (ICESCR).
1.4
This bill amends Veterans’ Affairs and other portfolio legislation to:
-
clarify arrangements for the payment of travel expenses for
treatment under the Veterans’ Entitlements Act and the Australian Participants
in British Nuclear Tests (Treatment) Act;
-
provide for the more timely provision of special assistance by
way of a legislative instrument in place of the current arrangement requiring a
regulation;
-
ensure that the debt recovery provisions will be applicable to
all relevant provisions of the Veterans’ Entitlements Act, the regulations and
any legislative instrument made under the Veterans’ Entitlements Act;
-
make technical amendments to provisions in the Military
Rehabilitation and Compensation Act that refer to legislative instruments;
-
amend the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act to replace
obsolete references to pharmaceutical allowance and telephone allowance with
references to the MRCA supplement;
-
rationalise the maintenance income provisions of the Veterans’
Entitlements Act by repealing the redundant definitions and operative
provisions and aligning the remaining definitions with those used in the Social
Security Act;
-
exempt as income for the purposes of the social security income
test, bereavement payments in respect of indigent veterans or members;
-
exempt from income tax, reimbursements made under the
Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and the MRCA Pharmaceutical
Benefits Scheme, including payments under the new Veterans’ Pharmaceutical
Reimbursement Scheme; and
-
make minor technical amendments.
Right to health (Article 12 ICESCR)
Right to social security (Article 9
ICESCR)
1.5
The statement of compatibility states that amendment will advance the
right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and
mental health by clarifying the arrangements for the payment of travel expenses
for persons receiving treatment under the Veterans' Entitlements Act and the
Australian Participants in British Nuclear Tests (Treatment) Act.
1.6
The statement of compatibility also states that the bill will promote
the right to social security by making certain bereavement payments exempt lump
sums, thereby ensuring that they are not assessed as income for the purposes of
the social security income test.
Navigation: Previous Page | Contents | Next Page
Top
|