The Federal Government is proposing to compulsorily deduct public housing tenants' housing costs (not just rent arrears) from their Centrelink income if they are in debt to the housing authority or ‘at risk' of getting into debt.

The Government recently released an Exposure Draft of the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Public Housing Tenants' Support) Bill 2013 (Draft Bill) as well as six draft ‘legislative instruments' that set out important operative provisions for the ‘Housing Payment Deduction Scheme' (Deduction Scheme). These materials are available here.

The consultation was very limited, but the HPLC made this submission informed by our direct legal case work with clients facing eviction for arrears.

While the HPLC would welcome any initiative genuinely aimed at intervening early to prevent evictions for arrears into homelessness, this is not what the Draft Bill currently does.

The HPLC's key concerns with the Draft Bill are:

  • the Deduction Scheme is too broad and it includes costs other than arrears;
  • the definition of ‘at risk of non-payment' could potentially include a significant proportion of public housing tenants in the Deduction Scheme;
  • the public authority must take ‘reasonable action' to recover an outstanding amount from a tenant before requesting compulsory deductions, but there is no indication of what might constitute ‘reasonable action'. In the absence of this guidance, there is no onus on public housing authorities to speak directly with tenants, link tenants to services or explore less restrictive means of addressing a tenant's arrears; 
  • tenants are not notified before the decision is made to include them in the Deduction Scheme - there is no procedural fairness (including a chance to reply); and 
  • the Deduction Scheme suggests capping deductions at 35% of a household's income, but this level is recognised as placing tenants under housing stress, creating a risk of tenancy failure and limiting households' ability to meet basic living expenses. 


In its current form the Draft Bill and the Deduction Scheme do not present an effective strategy for homelessness prevention. It is an overly broad, blunt instrument that will catch too many public housing tenants in a net of compulsory income diversion. It risks imposing rather than alleviating disadvantage and should be avoided.