Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Consequential Amendments) 2021

✦ Plain-English Summary

# Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Consequential Amendments) 2021

## What it does
This bill makes technical changes to Australian tax and welfare laws to support a new compensation scheme for Indigenous people from the Northern Territory and other territories who were part of the Stolen Generations. Specifically, it makes sure that payments people receive under this scheme won't be counted as taxable income, and won't affect their eligibility for social security payments like pensions or unemployment benefits.

## Why it matters
Without these changes, survivors receiving compensation could end up worse off—their payments might push them into a higher tax bracket or disqualify them from government support they rely on. This ensures the redress money actually helps people without creating unexpected financial penalties.

## Key details
- **Tax exemption**: Compensation payments are completely tax-free from the 2021-22 financial year onwards
- **Welfare protection**: The payments won't count as income when assessing eligibility for disability support, aged care pensions, or veterans' payments
- **Timing**: Most changes kicked in when the main compensation scheme itself started; tax changes apply from the next quarterly tax date after the bill received Royal Assent

Official Description

Introduced with the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme (Facilitation) Bill 2021 to facilitate the implementation of certain aspects of the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme, the bill amends the: Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to provide that redress payments are exempt from income tax; Bankruptcy Act 1966 to provide that redress payments are not available to creditors of recipients for the purposes of recovering money under bankruptcy proceedings; Social Security Act 1991 and Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 to ensure that redress payments do not count as income for the purposes of any income support payments; and Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 to authorise the use of protected information.

Committee Referrals

Senate Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee

Full bill PDF →APH page →

Audit History

Introduced

26 Aug 2021

Last updated on APH

10 Apr 2026

Outcome date

13 Dec 2021

Last checked by Crossbench

2 days ago

Full text indexed

2 days ago

🗳️

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