Commonwealth of Australia Explanatory Memoranda

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EDUCATION LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (STARTUP YEAR AND OTHER MEASURES) BILL 2023

                            2022-2023




  THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA




                             SENATE




EDUCATION LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (STARTUP
   YEAR AND OTHER MEASURES) BILL 2023




                    ADDENDUM TO THE
                EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM




    (Circulated by the authority of the Minister for Education,
                 the Honourable Jason Clare MP)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN THE EXPLANATORY
MEMORANDUM TO THE BILL

This addendum responds to concerns raised by the Senate Standing Committee for the
Scrutiny of Bills (the Committee) in Scrutiny Digest No. 6 of 2023, dated 14 June 2023.

To address the Committee's concerns, insert the following paragraphs after paragraph 56
on page 17 of the Explanatory Memorandum:

  56A. A decision under proposed subsection 128E-30(6) is not reviewable in order to
       ensure consistency with other Higher Education Loans Program (HELP) assistance
       available. Decisions under that proposed subsection are procedural in nature and
       involve the allocation of finite resources between competing applicants and
       consequently, is not suitable for merits review. Further, the time to undertake a
       particular accelerator program course would likely have passed by the time a
       decision under subsection 128E-30(6) was reconsidered.
 56B. Decisions under section 128E-30 are unsuitable for merits review as the
       Secretary's power to reverse an amount of STARTUP-HELP is dependent on an
       individual's factual circumstances being such that the person is not eligible to
       receive STARTUP-HELP assistance, and is therefore, an automatic decision. The
       Secretary does not have the discretion to qualitatively assess the facts of a
       particular matter. For example, if an individual does not meet citizenship or
       residency requirements, misses the census date or otherwise does not meet other
       eligibility criteria, the Secretary must reverse the STARTUP-HELP loan.




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