Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Early Childhood Education and Care Coronavirus Response and Other Measures) 2021

✦ Plain-English Summary

# Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Early Childhood Education and Care Coronavirus Response and Other Measures) Bill 2021

## What it does

This law updates rules around childcare subsidies and family payments to help families during the coronavirus pandemic. It makes changes to how the government manages childcare assistance, handles special circumstances when emergencies happen, and fixes some technical issues with payment deadlines and eligibility reviews.

## Why it matters

Families relying on childcare support needed the government to respond quickly to COVID-19 disruptions—this law gives them more flexibility. It also streamlines how childcare providers deal with the government, reducing red tape when people are already stretched.

## Key details

- **Emergency flexibility**: The government can now temporarily adjust childcare subsidy rules during disasters and emergencies without waiting for parliament, so support can adapt faster when needed.

- **Review appeals**: Families who disagree with a subsidy decision can challenge it more easily through the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, with clearer processes for what counts as a valid appeal.

- **Deadline extensions**: Childcare payment reconciliation (the annual settlement where the government checks if you got the right amount of subsidy) got extended deadlines to give families and providers breathing room during COVID disruptions.

Official Description

Amends the: A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 and A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 to: expand the circumstances in which business continuity payments (BCPs) can be paid to approved child care providers; and correct drafting errors made by the Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Improving Assistance for Vulnerable and Disadvantaged Families) Act 2020 ; and A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 in relation to: Administrative Appeals Tribunal review; delegation of funding agreement powers; child care subsidy reconciliation deadlines; ensuring that BCPs will not be offset against future CCS payments during the period 6 April to 12 July 2020 (the relevant period); allowing the minister's rules to specify circumstances in which BCPs paid to providers during the relevant period are to be debts; not including the relevant period in determining cessation of child's enrolment; removing the requirement to report provision of care to children during the relevant period; and provider applications and approvals.

Committee Referrals

Senate Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Bills

Full bill PDF →APH page →

Audit History

Introduced

17 Feb 2021

Last updated on APH

10 Apr 2026

Outcome date

26 Mar 2021

Last checked by Crossbench

2 days ago

Full text indexed

2 days ago

🗳️

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