The Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2013 was passed by the Senate on Wed 5.3.2014, with Govt and Opposition amendments and now must go back to the House of Reps for consideration of those amendments. The amendments concern, among other things, the commencement of measures in the Bill regarding FTB and eligibility rules, period of Australian working life residence, student start-up loans, and Pension Bonus Scheme. Under the amendments made, from 1 July 2014 (instead of 1 January 2014 as originally in the Bill), the Bill will end late registrations for the closed Pension Bonus Scheme.
The Bill had been amended in the House of Reps to delay the commencement of the Charities Act 2013 by 9 months, from 1 January 2014 to 1 September 2014. The Govt amendments in the Senate remove those amendments, leaving the Charities Act commencement as at 1 January 2014.
The Bill would replace the current student start-up scholarship with an income-contingent loan, the student start-up loan. It also contains amendments concerning Family Tax Benefits, the child care rebate, and aligning the income test treatment of account-based superannuation income streams, for products assessed from 1 January 2015, with the deemed income rules applying to other financial assets.
[LTN 43, 5/3/14]