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Maltese Welfare (NSW) Inc. Social Security agreement between Malta and Australia
2004. Correspondence
from the Maltese Welfare (NSW) to the Dept
of Social Security in Canberra: Attention Pete Murray/ Norm Baker
Dear Madam, I have managed to get some information on this agreement but more details will be useful. 1. The new revised agreement limits the coverage of Australian disability support pension: What is this limitation in plain speak and how different are they from the original agreement? 2. Re the keeping of the rate of Australian pension paid to people when they visit or depart Australian temporarily. Is the agreement means that for the first 26 weeks a person can leave Australia and a) Does not have to inform the Dept b) His rate remains normal for the first 26 weeks while o/s? Please inform me what happens after a 26 week absence from Australia, say to Malta? Are these the only changes from the original agreement signed in 1991? Why your
Department did only gave the Maltese Societies in Australia less than one month
to submit suggestions? Thanking you very much for your co-operation in this matter. Lawrence Dimech OAM JP. President Maltese Welfare (NSW) Inc Letter from
our President Lawrence Dimech to Peta Murray of the Department of Social
Security in Canberra Dear Ms Murray, Many thanks for your prompt reply (see below). Much appreciated. Regarding the consultation period please note that community groups like us have limited resources, no Government funding and are run by volunteers. Some do not have access to the internet and were not able to get a hard copy of the agreement signed in June of this year. Agreements between countries are not that easy to disseminate into language that is understood by migrants. Please again accept my sincere thanks for your prompt reply and explanation. Be assured it is of enormous help. Lawrence Dimech OAM President, Maltese Welfare (NSW). ****************************** The
Maltese Welfare (NSW) were very interested regarding the revised Social
security agreement signed in Malta in June 2004 between the two countries. After we
exchanged letters finally we requested Social Security in Canberra to give us
more details. This was their reply:- This is an abridged version of the revised agreement The revised agreement limits the coverage of Australian disability support pension to people who are assessed as being severely disabled. Under the existing agreement people who are not severely disabled can be paid a disability support pension in Malta. In 1991 the Australian government introduced reforms to invalidity/disability pensions that allowed only those people who were assessed as being severely disabled to be paid indefinitely outside Australia. These arrangements changed again from 1 July 2004 when the government passed legislation that allowed disability support pension, whether paid to a person who was severely disabled or not, to be payable outside Australia for 13 weeks only. Social Security agreements override this legislation. Current recipients of disability support pension will continue to receive the payment, whether they are severely disabled or not, as they are 'protected' by the transitional provisions of the revised agreement. This change to disability support pension will bring the agreement in line with Australia’s other agreements. (The agreement with Ireland is our only other agreement that continues to cover disability support pension for people who are not severely disabled. This agreement is currently being revised to restrict coverage to the severely disabled.) You may be interested to know that a person is classified as being severely disabled if their impairment prevents them from: doing any work for 8 hours a week or more for the next 2 years, and benefiting from training, education or rehabilitation to the extent of being able to work at least 8 hours a week. The revised agreement also contains provisions that maintain the rate of Australian pension paid to people when they visit or depart Australia temporarily for up to 26 weeks. The rate will no longer change immediately a person visits or departs Australia, as happens under the current agreement, but instead will remain consistent for the first 26 weeks of any temporary visit or departure. This change will simplify administrative processes and will also reduce the number of overpayments incurred by pensioners who move between the two countries temporarily. The change is in line with the approach taken in all our new agreements. You may not be aware that under the agreement there are two ways in which the rate of Australian pension is calculated - the inside Australia rate and the outside Australia rate. These rates are included in the revised agreement in Article 8. A person who intends departing Australia for any period is still obliged to inform Centrelink of their intentions but the rate of their Australian pension will remain the same for the first 26 weeks of their absence under the revised agreement. After the 26 week period finishes, the rate of pension will be calculated, according to the agreement, depending on where the person physically is at that time i.e. inside or outside Australia. The only other changes are basically updating the terminology used in the agreement. Regarding the consultation period - we believed that 4 weeks was sufficient time for community groups to provide comments. We also needed time to incorporate any comments received into a national interest analysis (NIA) which is required to be tabled and examined by the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties who recommends whether Australia should take legally binding action to implement this agreement. At this stage we are scheduled to table the NIA on 8 February and a draft will be sent to the clearing authorities in early January. Of course, if you have any comments we would be only to happy to receive these whenever they are available. I hope this information assists you. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions. From: Peta Murray Assistant Director International Branch Phone: 02 6244 8623 Fax: 02 6244 5980 Official record: File reference: 2004/xxxx [Note: file held by [International
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