EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Issued by the authority of the Secretary of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations

Social Security Act 1991

Social Security (Streamlined Participation Requirements) Instrument Amendment (Approved Program of Work) 2025
which amends the
Social Security (Streamlined Participation Requirements) Instrument 2022

Authority

This instrument is made under subsection 28(1) of the Social Security Act 1991 (‘the ‘Social Security Act’).

Purpose and operation

The Social Security (Streamlined Participation Requirements) Instrument Amendment (Approved Program of Work) 2025 (‘the Instrument’) is made under subsection 28(1) of the Social Security Act 1991. It amends the Social Security (Streamlined Participation Requirements) Instrument 2022 (2022 instrument) insofar as it amends the list of Approved Programs of Work for income support payment set out in the 2022 instrument.

The Instrument declares that Work Skills and Projects is an approved program of work. Those who participate in an Approved Program of Work will be entitled to the Approved Program of Work Supplement (APWS) as part of their income support payment. The APWS is $20.80 per fortnight.

Work Skills and Projects is a new program which will be open to Remote Area Employment Service (RAES) participants. Work for the Dole will continue to be an approved program of work for those who participate in other employment programs such as Workforce Australia and Disability Employment Services, but not for RAES participants.  

Currently, approximately 4,000 or 10% of Community Development Program (CDP) participants are eligible to receive the APWS payment through their voluntary participation in Work for the Dole.  

On 31 October 2025, all CDP participants will be transitioned to the new Remote Australia Employment Service (RAES). RAES is an employment service designed to support participants in remote areas who are looking for work or may need help to become job ready to get the skills and resources they need to take up job opportunities.

Work Skills and Projects will assist RAES participants to increase their work-readiness, overcome vocation barriers and support personal development to overcome non-vocational barriers to finding and keeping paid work. The program also seeks to increase access to job opportunities for RAES participants.

Some examples of the kinds of activities that it is expected that Work Skills and Projects will include are:

• Community Garden Projects: for example, participants collaborate to design, build, and maintain a garden at a local not-for-profit centre, gaining hands-on experience in landscaping, teamwork, and project planning.
• Sporting Club Infrastructure Support: for example, erecting a storage shed or installing seating at a local sports club, where participants use tools, follow safety procedures, and work in a team—mirroring a construction site environment.
• Refurbishing Community Spaces: for example, painting, cleaning, and minor repairs in a community hall or youth centre, providing exposure to basic maintenance tasks and workplace routines.
• Screen Printing and Sewing: for example, screen Printing of fabric and sewing for community (making curtains for housing, clothing etc).
• Work Experience at a not-for-profit organisation: work experience placements to build skills and preparation for employment.

These activities will afford Work Skills and Projects participants the opportunity to develop core competencies and skills required for the workplace. For example, teamwork, initiative and innovation, planning and organising, oral communication, digital engagement, reading, writing, problem-solving, and numeracy. Work Skills and Project activities will be co-designed with the local community and will respond to community needs and priorities.

Work Skills and Projects activities will be established by providers or through arrangements with host organisations within the region. Host organisations can be not-for-profit organisations, businesses, social enterprises, entities related to the provider, or Commonwealth, state, territory or local government agencies.

Work Skills and Projects activities will be voluntary for RAES participants. A RAES participant will be able to elect to participate in a Job skills and Project activity but will not be penalised if they choose not to participate or if they exit the activity, except that they will not receive the APWS when not participating.

In addition to declaring that Work Skills and Projects is an Approved Program of Work, the Instrument removes the National Work Experience Programme, which no longer operates, from the list of Approved Programs of Work.    

Regulatory impact

The Instrument is not regulatory in nature, will not impact on business activity and will have no, or minimal, compliance costs or competition impact. The Office of Impact Analysis has determined that detailed analysis is not required under the Australian Government's Policy Impact Analysis Framework. 

Commencement

The Instrument will commence on 1 November 2025.  

Consultation

The Department consulted with the National Indigenous Australians Agency and Services Australia about the Instrument.

Extensive consultation has occurred with First Nations people and communities in the establishment of RAES, including on compliance measures. RAES has been designed in partnership with remote communities through consultations, lessons learnt from job trials and testing new ways to create jobs in specific remote communities. 

The replacement of CDP has been informed by consultation with remote community members, job seekers, peak bodies, First Nations people, CDP providers, CDP participants and other key stakeholders with an interest in remote employment.

Over the past few years, the Government has heard from thousands of people in more than 200 remote communities about the best way to replace the CDP. This was to enable the creation of a jobs program that communities want, supported by employment services that help young people and job seekers get ready for work. Community consultation and engagement were identified as critical for ensuring job creation efforts align with local priorities and cultural practices.

Broadly, feedback indicated that:

• the new remote employment service should be participant centred with case management to focus on the participant’s job readiness pathway.
• the new remote employment service should be planned and led by communities.
• the relationships between providers and participants should be based on reciprocity.

Given that the above consultation occurred and that the only purpose of the Instrument is to add Work Skills and Projects to and remove a ceased program from the list of programs which can attract the APWS, it was considered unnecessary to undertake further consultation specifically on the Instrument.

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Social Security (Approved Programs of Work for income support payment) Instrument 2025

The Social Security (Approved Programs of Work for income support payment) Instrument 2025 (‘the Instrument’) is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

Overview of Instrument

The Social Security (Streamlined Participation Requirements) Instrument Amendment (Approved Program of Work) 2025 (‘the Instrument’) is made under subsection 28(1) of the Social Security Act 1991. It amends the Social Security (Streamlined Participation Requirements) Instrument 2022 (2022 instrument) insofar as it amends the list of Approved Programs of Work for income support payment set out in the 2022 instrument.

The Instrument declares that Work Skills and Projects is an approved program of work. Those who participate in an Approved Program of Work will be entitled to the Approved Program of Work Supplement (APWS) as part of their income support payment. The APWS is $20.80 per fortnight.

Work Skills and Projects is a new program which will be open to Remote Area Employment Service (RAES) participants. Work for the Dole will continue to be an approved program of work for those who participate in other employment programs such as Workforce Australia and Disability Employment Services, but not for RAES participants. 

The Department consulted with the National Indigenous Australians Agency and Services Australia about the Instrument.

Extensive consultation has occurred with First Nations people and communities in the establishment of RAES, including on compliance measures. RAES has been designed in partnership with remote communities through consultations, lessons learnt from job trials and testing new ways to create jobs in specific remote communities. 

The replacement of CDP has been informed by consultation with remote community members, job seekers, peak bodies, First Nations people, CDP providers, CDP participants and other key stakeholders with an interest in remote employment.

Human rights implications

The removal of the National Work Experience Programme (NWEP) from the list of Approved Programs of Work does not have human rights implications. This is because NWEP no longer operates and so no person could obtain the APWS through participation in NWEP whether it is listed as an Approved Program of Work or not.

The Instrument engages the following rights:

• the rights to equality and non-discrimination in Article 2(2) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and Article 5 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD);
• the right to social security in article 9 of the International ICESCR;
• the right to an adequate standard of living in article 11 of the ICESCR; and
• the right to work in article 6 of the ICESCR.

The rights to equality and non-discrimination

The rights of equality and non-discrimination are provided for in some of the main international human rights treaties to which Australia is a party, most relevantly the ICCPR and the CERD. In particular, article 5 of the CERD requires parties ‘to prohibit and eliminate racial discrimination in all its forms and to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, colour or national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law’, notably in the enjoyment of ‘the right to … social security and social services’ (article 5(e)(iv)).

Article 2(2) of the ICESCR, Article 26 of the ICCPR and Article 2 of the CRC recognise the right to equality and non-discrimination on a range of grounds including of race, sex, colour, language, national or social origin or ‘other status’. Place of residence within a country is considered to fall within ‘other status’ for the purposes of these articles.

The Instrument engages the rights to equality and non-discrimination because remote participants will be able to access the APWS through participation in Work Skills and Projects.

The rights to equality and non-discrimination are subject to the international human rights law principle of ‘legitimate differential treatment’. This principle allows groups of people to be treated differently where the treatment is aimed at achieving a legitimate objective, is based on reasonable and objective criteria and is proportionate to the objective to be achieved.

Work Skills and Projects will operate in conjunction with location-based providers to create opportunities and activities tailored to participants in remote Australia. People in remote Australia often face unique obstacles such as fewer job opportunities and other disadvantages related to their remote locations. Work Skills and Projects activities will be designed in consultation with local communities.

The work activities and placements are tailored to the needs of the community in which the job seeker resides. This results in mutually beneficial outcomes for both job seekers their communities. This promotes the right to equality and non-discrimination notwithstanding that RAES participants have access to a different Approved Program of Work to participants in Workforce Australia and Disability Employment Services.

Regardless of location, race or other characteristics no person can be required to participate in an Approved Program of Work if the program is unsuitable for them having regard to their circumstances, needs, and capacity to participate or if such a requirement would be otherwise inconsistent with the social security law.  

The right to social security, the right to work and the right to an adequate standard of living

Article 9 of the ICESCR recognises the right of everyone to social security. Article 11 of the ICESCR recognises the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. 

Article 6 of the ICESCR recognises the right to work. This includes the right to the opportunity to gain a living by work which the person freely chooses or accepts and is considered an inherent part of human dignity. To enable people to realise their right to work, state parties to the Convention are required, among other things, to assist and support individuals to enable them to identify and find available employment, and to protect their right to just and favourable conditions of employment.

The Instrument promotes the right to work, the right to social security and the right to an adequate standard of living. The Instrument does this by declaring Work Skills and Projects is an Approved Program of Work. Participants in an Approved Program of Work receive the $20.80 per fortnight APWS. This provides participants with money they would not otherwise receive and incentivises their participation in a program which will increase their chance of finding and keeping suitable paid work.

The Instrument does not impose any requirements on a person and has the effect of increasing a person’s income support payment. The Instrument does not negatively affect or limit a person’s right to social security or their right to an adequate standard of living. 

Conclusion

The Instrument is compatible with human rights because it does not limit human rights and because it enhances and protects the right to social security, the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to work and the right to equality and non-discrimination.

Secretary of the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations

Social Security (Streamlined Participation Requirements) Instrument Amendment (Approved Program of Work) 2025

Explanation of Provisions

Section 1 sets out the name of the Instrument as the Social Security (Streamlined Participation Requirements) Instrument Amendment (Approved Program of Work) 2025 (‘the Instrument’).

Section 2 provides that the Instrument will commence on 1 November 2025.

Section 3 provides that the Instrument is made under subsection 28(1) of the Social Security Act 1991 (‘the Social Security Act’).

Section 4 provides that any amendment set out in the Schedule has effect according to the terms in the schedule.

Schedule 1—Amendments

Social Security (Streamlined Participation Requirements) Instrument 2022

Item 1 removes the reference to the “National Work Experience Programme” in paragraph (b) of section 5 of the Social Security (Streamlined Participation Requirements) Instrument 2022 and replaces it with a reference to the new program “Work Skills and Projects”.