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1998 – 1999 – 2000
THE
PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF
AUSTRALIA
SENATE
MIGRATION LEGISLATION
AMENDMENT (PARENTS AND OTHER MEASURES) BILL
2000
SUPPLEMENTARY EXPLANATORY
MEMORANDUM
Amendment to be Moved on Behalf of the
Government
(Circulated
by authority of the
Minister for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs
the
Hon. Philip Ruddock MP)
ISBN: 0642 451311
MIGRATION LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (PARENTS AND OTHER MEASURES) BILL
2000
OUTLINE
The purpose of the amendment to Schedule 1
of the Migration Legislation Amendment (Parents and Other Measures) Bill 2000
(“the Bill”) is to retain entitlement to Medicare by certain
protection visa applicants from whom it was proposed to be removed by Schedule 1
of the Bill.
FINANCIAL IMPACT STATEMENT
2 The
financial impact of the amendment is estimated to reduce the projected net
savings that were to flow from denying future protection visa applicants access
to Medicare by $1.3m in the first year, $2.0m in the second year, $2.1m in the
third year and $2.1m in the fourth year (for a total of $7.5m over the first
four years).
3 The additional costs projected for the Department of
Immigration and Multicultural Affairs as a result of increased use of the Asylum
Seeker Assistance Scheme (“ASA”) by future protection visa
applicants ineligible for Medicare will be substantially reduced. There will
instead be only a slight increase in demand for the ASA scheme from parent visa
applicants who lodge a protection visa application, which would render them
ineligible for Medicare.
NOTES
ON AMENDMENT TO SCHEDULE 1
Amendment (1)
1 This
amendment substitutes a new subparagraph (iii) in the proposed amendments to
paragraph 3(1)(f) of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (“the Health
Insurance Act”) as proposed in the Bill.
2 The purpose of proposed
paragraph 3(1)(f) was to exclude the following groups of persons from the Health
Insurance Act definition of “Australian resident”:
• all future protection visa applicants during processing of their
visa applications; and
• all parent visa applicants who are currently
in, or enter, Australia on a temporary basis, during processing of their parent
visa applications.
3 The effect of this would have been that these groups
of persons would not have been entitled to Medicare.
4 Proposed new
subparagraph 3(1)(f)(iii) excludes from the definition of “Australian
resident” only those protection visa applicants:
• who made
their protection visa application on or after the commencement of the
subparagraph; and
• whose protection visa application has not been
withdrawn or otherwise finally determined; and
• who, at any time,
made an application for a parent visa, whether or not that parent visa
application has been withdrawn or otherwise finally determined.
5 The
effect of proposed new subparagraph 3(1)(f)(iii) is that
• protection visa applicants will be entitled to Medicare provided
they have never applied for a parent visa and provided they satisfy the other
requirements of the definition of “Australian resident” in the
Health Insurance Act; and
• current, future and former parent visa
applicants who apply for protection visas will not be entitled to Medicare.