Mr ABBOTT (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs)(9.59 a.m.) —I move:

That the bill be now read a second time.

This bill amends part 2 of the Student and Youth Assistance Act 1973. Part 2 of the Student and Youth Assistance Act provides for the Austudy scheme.

The bill introduces a two-year (104 week) waiting period for access to Austudy benefits which will, as a general rule, apply to migrants, including New Zealand citizens, who arrive in Australia on or after 1 January 1997.

The two-year waiting period will not apply to migrants who settled in Australia before 1 January 1997. However, the existing six-month Austudy waiting period for New Zealand citizens will continue to apply to those who arrive before 1 January 1997.

Migrants and New Zealand citizens who have visited Australia before 1 January 1997 as a tourist or in some other temporary capacity and subsequently return to settle on or after 1 January 1997 will be subject to the waiting period.

A safety net exemption from the waiting period will be available to:

Refugee and humanitarian migrants and their immediate family members;

former holders of visa subclasses 820 (spouses or fiances of Australian citizens) and 826 (interdependent relationships);

holders of visa subclasses 832 and 833 (innocent illegals—unlawfuls who are over 18 but entered Australia and became unlawful while they were children); and

people who would otherwise be subject to the waiting period but who experience after arrival in Australia a change in circumstances, when they are aged 21 years or less, such that they no longer have access to a parental home and financial support.

The bill ensures that migrants make provision for their own and their children's education during their first two years as Australian residents. This reflects community expectations that new migrants make a reasonable contribution towards certain educational costs upon their arrival in Australia.

A similar bill currently being considered by the parliament will introduce a two-year waiting period for receipt of most Department of Social Security payments by migrants who arrived in Australia on or after 1 April 1996.

For migrants subject to the two-year waiting period, it will commence on the day the migrant entered Australia or the day they became a permanent resident, whichever is the later. For migrants subject to the two-year waiting period who are New Zealand citizens, the waiting period will commence on the day they permanently settled in Australia. The two-year waiting period does not include periods of absence from Australia. I present the explanatory memorandum. I commend the bill to the House.

Debate (on motion by Mr Tanner) adjourned.