Explanatory Statement
Social Security (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment – Eastern Queensland Bushfires) Amendment Determination 2020 (No. 1)
The Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment (the AGDRP) provides an immediate, one-off payment to Australians adversely affected by a major disaster.
Section 4 of the Social Security (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment – Eastern Queensland Bushfires) Determination 2020 (No. 13) describes who is adversely affected by a major disaster by describing the major disaster event and the locations in which the event occurred, and the circumstances in which a person is determined to be adversely affected by the major disaster event for the purposes of the AGDRP.
This Amendment Determination amends subsection 4(1) of the Social Security (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment – Eastern Queensland Bushfires) Determination 2020 (No. 13). This provision describes the ‘major disaster event’ (bushfires occurring in November and December 2019 in Eastern Queensland) and the specific areas in which a person is taken to have been adversely affected by a major disaster as a result of that event, if the circumstances described in subsection 4(2) apply.
The amendment adds the Queensland local government area of Bundaberg to the description of a person adversely affected by a major disaster. The reason for the change is that the Bundaberg local government area was also impacted by the bushfires which occurred in November and December 2019, and extending the AGDRP to people adversely affected by the major disaster in this area is appropriate.
Section 1 of Social Security (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment – Eastern Queensland Bushfires) Amendment Determination 2020 (No. 1) (Amendment Determination (No. 1) specifies the name of the determination.
Section 2 of Amendment Determination (No. 1) provides that it commences on the day it is signed.
Section 3 of Amendment Determination (No. 1) provides that Schedule 1 amends the Social Security (Australian Disaster Recovery Payment – Eastern Queensland Bushfires) Determination 2020 (No.13).
The Schedule to Amendment Determination (No. 1) amends the description of person adversely affected by a major disaster in subsection 4(1) to insert the word Bundaberg, to include the local government area of Bundaberg as an area that was impacted by the major disaster event.
Subsection 1061L (3) of the Social Security Act 1991 provides that a determination made under section 1061L is a legislative instrument.
This instrument is not subject to disallowance by the Parliament (subsection 1061L (3) of the Social Security Act 1991 provides that section 42 of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 does not apply to the determination).
Consultation regarding Amendment Determination (No. 1) was undertaken with Services Australia.