Explanatory Statement
Social Security (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment) Amendment Determination 2011 (No. 2)
The Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (the AGDRP) provides an immediate, one-off payment to Australians adversely affected by a major disaster.
Section 36 of the Social Security Act 1991 (the Act) empowers the Minister to determine in writing that an event is a “major disaster” if the Minister is satisfied that an event is a disaster that has such a significant impact on individuals that a Commonwealth Government response is required.
Section 1061K of the Act specifies the qualification criteria for the AGDRP. One of the qualification criteria requires a person to be “adversely affected by a major disaster”.
Subsection 1061L(1) of the Act provides that, for the purposes of the Act, “a person is adversely affected by a major disaster if the person is affected by the disaster in a way determined by the Minister in relation to the disaster”.
Subsection 1061L(2) of the Act provides that the “Minister may determine in writing, in relation to a major disaster, the circumstances in which persons are to be taken to be adversely affected by the disaster”.
The Minister has made a declaration under section 36 of the Act that applies to the flooding in the State of New South Wales that:
(a) was caused by the flow of floodwater from the State of Queensland that:
(i) began in November 2010; and
(ii) continued in January 2011; and
(b) affected the following Local Government Areas of the State of New South Wales at any time in the period starting on 10 January 2011 and ending on 31 January 2011:
(i) the Clarence Valley, Central Darling and Mid Western Regional Local Government Areas of the State of New South Wales;
(ii) the natural disaster declared Local Government Areas in the Northern and North Western Regions of the State of New South Wales.
That declaration is the Social Security (New South Wales floods) Determination 2011 (No. 3). It also provides that, for the purposes of subsection 1061L(2) of the Act, a person is adversely affected by the major disaster if the person is affected in the way mentioned in Schedule 2 to the Determination.
This Determination amends Schedule 1 to the Social Security (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment) Determination 2011 (No. 2), which sets out the circumstances in which persons are taken to be adversely affected by the major disaster. The amendment changes a key date from 15 January 2011 to 15 July 2011. The reason for the change is that further assessments were carried out at the request of the Hon Sussan Ley MP (Member for Farrer, New South Wales) to measure the impact of the floods. The finding of these assessments confirmed that the Local Government Area of Central Darling had been severely impacted by the floods and further Commonwealth assistance, by extending the AGDRP, would be reasonable.
Subsection 1061L(3) of the Act provides that a determination under section 1061L is a legislative instrument.
This instrument is not subject to disallowance by the Parliament (subsection 1061L(3) of the Act provides that section 42 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 does not apply to the determination).
Formal consultation has not been undertaken as the Determination was required as a matter of urgency.