Very Remote HELP Debtor Guidelines 2019 (Cth)

Very Remote HELP Debtor Guidelines 2019

I, Dan Tehan, Minister for Education, make the following guidelines.

Dated   18 December 2019

Dan Tehan

Minister for Education

Contents

Division 1—Preliminary  1

1  Name........................................................................................................................................ 1

2  Commencement........................................................................................................................ 1

3  Authority.................................................................................................................................. 1

4  Definitions................................................................................................................................ 1

Division 2—Very remote HELP debtors—reducing indexation  1

5  Purpose of Division................................................................................................................. 1

6  Days on which a person is a very remote HELP debtor—full-time and part‑time teachers in very remote schools             2

7  Days on which a person is a very remote HELP debtor—casual teachers................................ 2

Division 3—Very remote HELP debtors—reducing HELP debts  3

8  Purpose of Division................................................................................................................. 3

9  Period for which a person has been a very remote HELP debtor............................................. 3

Division 1—Preliminary

1  Name

This instrument is the Very Remote HELP Debtor Guidelines 2019.

2  Commencement

(1)  Each provision of this instrument specified in column 1 of the table commences, or is taken to have commenced, in accordance with column 2 of the table. Any other statement in column 2 has effect according to its terms.

Commencement information
Column 1	Column 2	Column 3
Provisions	Commencement	Date/Details
1.  The whole of this instrument	Immediately after the commencement of Schedule 2 to the Education Legislation Amendment (2019 Measures No. 1) Act 2019.	1 January 2020

Note:          This table relates only to the provisions of this instrument as originally made. It will not be amended to deal with any later amendments of this instrument.

(2)  Any information in column 3 of the table is not part of this instrument. Information may be inserted in this column, or information in it may be edited, in any published version of this instrument.

3  Authority

This instrument is made under the Higher Education Support Act 2003.

4  Definitions

In this instrument:

the Act means the Higher Education Support Act 2003.

very remote school means a school located in an area that is classified as very remote Australia under the ABS Remoteness Structure.

Division 2—Very remote HELP debtors—reducing indexation

5  Purpose of Division

The purpose of this Division is to set out circumstances relevant to working out whether a person is a very remote HELP debtor on a day, for the purposes of determining, for subsection 142-10(2) of the Act, the number of days in a calendar year that the person was a very remote HELP debtor.

6  Days on which a person is a very remote HELP debtor—full-time and part‑time teachers in very remote schools

Teachers normally resident in very remote Australia

(1)  If:

(a)  a person is engaged to undertake work as a teacher on a full-time or part‑time basis for a specified period at one or more very remote schools; and

(b)  during the period, the person is normally resident in an area that is classified as very remote Australia under the ABS Remoteness Structure;

the person is taken to be carrying out work as a teacher at a very remote school on each day in that period.

(2)  For the absence of doubt, for subsection (1) a person can be taken to be carrying out work as a teacher at a very remote school on a day in the period, even if:

(a)  the day is a day on which the person is not carrying out work as a teacher (such as a weekend, public holiday, leave day, or rostered day off); or

(b)  the day is a day on which the person is not located in an area that is classified as very remote Australia under the ABS Remoteness Structure (for example, because the person is travelling, is on leave, or undertaking professional duties at another location).

Teachers temporarily located in very remote Australia

(3)  If:

(a)  a person is engaged to undertake work as a teacher on a full-time or part‑time basis at one or more very remote schools; and

(b)  because of that engagement, the person is located for a period in an area that is classified as very remote Australia under the ABS Remoteness Structure;

the person is taken to be carrying out work as a teacher at a very remote school on each day in that period.

Note:   The period can be one day.

(4)  For the absence of doubt, for subsection (3) a person can be taken to be carrying out work as a teacher at a very remote school on a day in the period, even if the day is a day on which the person is not carrying out work as a teacher (such as a weekend, public holiday, leave day, or rostered day off).

7  Days on which a person is a very remote HELP debtor—casual teachers

(1)  If:

(a)  a person is engaged to undertake work as a teacher on a casual basis at one or more very remote schools; and

(b)  because of that engagement, the person is located for a period in an area that is classified as very remote Australia under the ABS Remoteness Structure;

the person is taken to be carrying out work as a teacher at a very remote school on each day in that period.

Note:   The period can be one day.

(2)  For the absence of doubt, a person can be taken to be carrying out work as a teacher at a very remote school on a day in the period, even if the day is a day on which the person is not carrying out work as a teacher (such as a weekend or public holiday).

Division 3—Very remote HELP debtors—reducing HELP debts

8  Purpose of Division

The purpose of this Division is to set out circumstances relevant to working out, for subparagraph 142-15(1)(a)(i) of the Act, whether a person has been a very remote HELP debtor for a period of 4 years, or periods within a continuous 6 year period that total 4 years.

9  Period for which a person has been a very remote HELP debtor

(1)  A person has been a very remote HELP debtor for a period of 4 years, or periods within a continuous 6 year period that total 4 years, at a time in a year if the number of days that the person has been a very remote HELP debtor in the period of 6 continuous years ending immediately before that year equals or exceeds 1460.

(2)  For subsection (1), and subject to subsection (3), the number of days that the person has been a very remote HELP debtor is worked out having regard to the operation of Division 2.

Note: The Secretary does not need to have made any determinations under subsection 142-10(2) of the Act in relation to the person.

(3)  Where the number of days in a period that a person has been a very remote HELP debtor has been worked out under section 6, and the person was engaged to work as a teacher on a part-time basis for that period then, for subsection (1), the number of days in that period that the person was a very remote HELP debtor is equal to the number of days in the period worked out under section 6 multiplied by the proportion of full-time work that the person was engaged to work, rounded up to the nearest whole number.