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2016-2017-2018
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FARM HOUSEHOLD SUPPORT AMENDMENT BILL 2018
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources,
the Hon. David Littleproud MP)
FARM HOUSEHOLD SUPPORT AMENDMENT BILL 2018
GENERAL OUTLINE
The Farm Household Support Amendment Bill 2018 (the Bill) will amend the Farm
Household Support Act 2014 (the FHS Act) to extend the Farm Household Allowance (FHA)
program from three cumulative years to four cumulative years for each recipient.
The FHA program provides qualifying farmers and their partners one-on-one case support, an
Activity Supplement for planning and training and an income support payment, paid at the
same rate as other social security allowances, to help meet household expenses.
FHA is subject to an income test similar to Newstart Allowance and a tailored, two tier assets
test. The first tier of the assets test relates to non-farm assets and is the same as
Newstart Allowance. For applicants who satisfy the first tier of the assets test, a second tier
restricts FHA to those with net farm assets not exceeding $2.55 million (whether they are
single or partnered).
From the date their application is granted, recipients of FHA are entitled to access up to
$4,000 of an Activity Supplement. The Activity Supplement enables recipients to undertake
prescribed activities that are negotiated as part of their Financial Improvement Agreement.
By extending the FHA program to four cumulative years, the Bill will provide an additional
twelve months for a recipient to benefit from the FHA program.
For those who have exhausted their three cumulative years on the FHA program, the Bill will
operate to allow qualifying people to access an additional year of support.
Extension of Farm Household Allowance to four years
The FHA program provides time-limited support to farmers and farmers' partners facing
hardship. Currently, the maximum period a person can participate in the FHA program is
three cumulative years, or 1,095 days.
The Bill will extend the maximum period a person can participate in the FHA program to
four years, or 1,460 days.
FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
It is estimated the extension of the FHA program proposed by the Bill will cost the Australian
Government $36.3 million over four years from 2018-19. The funding estimate represents
payments to recipients, which will be paid through the Special Appropriation derived from
the Farm Household Support Act 2014. The funding amount is based on expected demand for
the program. However, FHA is uncapped and demand-driven, which means expenditure
would be greater in times of higher demand.
Extending the FHA will also involve additional costs for program administration, case
management and information technology system updates.
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STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Farm Household Support Amendment Bill 2018
This Bill 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 the Bill
The Farm Household Support Amendment Bill 2018 (the Bill) will amend the Farm
Household Support Act 2014 (FHS Act) to extend the Farm Household Allowance (FHA)
program from three cumulative years to four cumulative years for each recipient.
Currently, qualifying applicants can be in receipt of FHA for a cumulative total of
1,095 days. While receiving payment, recipients can access a range of support measures to
help them improve their circumstances and develop resilience and self-sufficiency. The Bill
will extend the FHA program from a cumulative total of 1,095 days to a cumulative total of
1,460 days.
Human rights implications
The Bill engages, or has the potential to engage, the following rights:
Article 9 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (the ICESCR) - right to social security
Article 11(1) of the ICESCR - right to an adequate standard of living, including food,
water and housing
Article 12(1) of the ICESCR - right to health
Article 6 of the ICESCR - right to work and rights in work.
Right to Social Security
Article 9 of the ICESCR recognises the right to social security. The United Nations
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) has stated that the term 'social
security' in article 9 encompasses the right to access and maintain benefits, whether in cash
or in kind to secure protection from (a) lack of work related income; (b) unaffordable
healthcare; or (c) insufficient family support.1
By increasing the maximum time a person can access the FHA program, the Bill promotes
the right to social security by providing an additional 12 months of support to qualifying
farmers and farmers' partners facing hardship.
1 CESCR, General Comment No 19 (2008), paragraph 2.
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Summary
The Bill engages and promotes the right to social security enshrined in Article 9 of the
ICESCR.
Right to an adequate standard of living, including food, water and housing
Article 11(1) of the ICESCR recognises the right to an adequate standard of living, including
food, water and housing. States have an obligation to ensure the availability and accessibility
of the resources necessary for the progressive realisation of this right. The CESCR has stated
that the core content of the right to adequate food implies both the availability and (economic
and physical) accessibility of food.2
Given that the livelihood of farmers is subject to a range of factors beyond their control, the
Bill seeks to promote this right by extending financial and social support to farmers and
farmers' partners at times of hardship where they demonstrate a limited capacity to self-
support.
The right to an adequate standard of housing is protected to a lesser extend under the Bill
given that FHA recipients are, subject to eligibility criteria, able to access rent assistance.
Summary
The Bill engages and promotes the right to an adequate standard of living, enshrined in
Article 11(1) of the ICESCR.
Right to health
Article 12(1) of the ICESCR recognises the right of all individuals to enjoy the highest
attainable standard of physical and mental health.
The CESCR has stated that this right is not confined to the right to health care.3 The CESCR
considers that article 12 more broadly acknowledges that the right to health embraces a wide
range of socio-economic factors that promote conditions in which people can lead a healthy
life, and extends to the underlying determinants of health, such as food and nutrition,
housing, access to safe and potable water and adequate sanitation, safe and healthy working
conditions, and a healthy environment.
The Bill extends all elements of the FHA program, including ancillary benefits contained in
Part 2, Division 8, Subdivisions A and B, to recipients for an additional twelve months. In
particular, FHA recipients are granted automatic access to a Health Care Card (under Part 5
of the Bill that applies the social security law to FHA); and, subject to eligibility criteria,
other applicable mainstream social assistance measures.
The Health Care Card assists FHA recipients with certain health costs by allowing access to
specific services at a concessional rate.
2 CESCR, General Comment No 12 (1999), paragraphs 8 and 13.
3 CESCR, General Comment No 14 (2000), paragraph 4.
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The Bill acts to extend all applicable social assistance measures, including the Health Care
Card, to FHA recipients for an additional twelve months. In doing so, the Bill promotes the
right to health.
Summary
The Bill engages and promotes the right to health in Article 12(1) of the ICESCR.
Right to work
Article 6 of the ICESCR protects the right to work. Article 6(2) provides that, to achieve the
full realisation of this right, States should take steps to include "technical and vocational
guidance and training programmes, policies and techniques to achieve steady economic,
social and cultural development and full and productive employment under conditions
safeguarding fundamental political and economic freedoms to the individual".
The Bill seeks to extend the period a recipient may access FHA. While receiving payment,
FHA recipients are able to access an Activity Supplement to undertake agreed training and
assessment activities as prescribed in their Financial Improvement Agreement. By extending
the program, the Bill will provide an additional 12 months for FHA recipients to access their
remaining Activity Supplement for the purpose of increasing their technical and vocational
training skills. Indirectly, engaging in technical and vocational training will support recipients
to increase their access to work. As a result, the Bill engages and promotes the right to work
contained in Article 6 of the ICESCR.
Summary
The Bill engages and promotes the right to work in Article 6 of the ICESCR.
Conclusion
The Bill is compatible with human rights because, wherever it engages with a right
recognised under section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011, the
provision seeks to promote that right. The Bill contains no restrictions on any right
recognised in that Act.
(Circulated by authority of the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources,
the Hon. David Littleproud MP)
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NOTES ON AMENDMENTS
Preliminary
Clause 1 Short Title
Clause 1 provides for the short title of the Act to be the Farm Household Support Amendment
Bill 2018.
Clause 2 Commencement
Clause 2 provides for the commencement of each provision in the Bill, as set out in the table.
Clause 3 Schedules
Clause 3 provides that legislation that is specified in a Schedule to the Bill is amended or
repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a
Schedule to the Bill has effect according to its terms.
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Schedule 1--Amendments
Overview
Schedule 1 of the Bill operates to amend the Farm Household Support Act 2014, extending
the Farm Household Allowance program to four cumulative years, or 1,460 days, for each
recipient.
The intention of the Bill is to ensure that all people qualifying for the FHA program will be
entitled to access an additional 365 days of support through the FHA program.
Farm Household Support Act 2014
Item 1 Paragraph 3(a)
This item omits "3 years" from paragraph 3(a) and substitutes "4 years".
Item 2 Paragraph 4(a)
This item omits "3 years" from paragraph 4(a) and substitutes "4 years".
Item 3 Subsection 5(1) (definition of 3 years or less)
This item repeals the current definition of 3 years or less from subsection 5(1).
Item 4 Subsection 5(1)
This item provides that the definition of 4 years or less is the meaning given to it by
subsection 6(3).
Item 5 Section 6 (heading)
This item omits the reference to "3 years or less" in the heading of section 6 and substitutes a
reference to "4 years or less".
Item 6 Subsection 6(3) (heading)
This item omits the reference to "3 years or less" in the heading of subsection 6(3) and
substitutes a reference to "4 years or less".
Item 7 Subsection 6(3)
This item omits the reference to "3 years or less" in subsection 6(3) and substitutes a
reference to "4 years or less".
Item 8 Subsection 6(3)
This item omits the term "1095 days" in subsection 6(3) and substitutes the term "1,460
days".
Item 9 Section 7
This item omits the reference to "3 years" in section 7 and substitutes a reference to "4
years".
Item 10 Paragraph 8(h)
This item omits the reference to "3 years" in paragraph 8(h) and substitutes a reference to "4
years".
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Item 11 Paragraph 9(j)
This item omits the reference to "3 years" in paragraph 9(j) and substitutes a reference to "4
years".
Item 12 Subsections 96(1) and (2)
This item omits the references to "3 years" in subsections 96(1) and 96(2) and substitutes a
reference to "4 years".
Item 13 Application of amendments
Provides for the application of amendments.
Item 13 extends the FHA program from 1,095 days to 1,460 days for all people have applied,
or will apply, for the FHA program.
If a person has exhausted their 1,095 days on the FHA program prior to the commencement
of the Bill, they may apply for an additional 365 days of support.
For example, the amendments will apply to:
a person who is currently serving a period of suspension
a person who has applied for FHA but a decision has not yet been made on their
claim
a person who is currently receiving FHA
a person who has exhausted their prior entitlement to FHA.
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