Social Services Legislation Amendment (Drug Testing Trial) Bill 2018
The submission to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee’s inquiry into the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Drug Testing Trial) Bill 2018 (the Drug Testing Trial Bill) was prepared by the Law Council with the assistance of the Law Society of New South Wales.
The Law Council notes that the Drug Testing Trial Bill is substantially identical to Schedule 12 of the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Welfare Reform) Bill 2017 (Welfare Reform Bill). Schedule 12 proposed to establish a pilot scheme where, in three selected areas, recipients of Newstart and Youth Allowance would be ‘randomly’ picked via a ‘data driven profiling tool’ that would identify ‘relevant characteristics that indicate a higher risk of substance abuse issues’ to undergo drug testing.1
However, a key difference is that the Drug Testing Trial Bill stipulates three locations to be drug test trial areas – being Canterbury-Bankstown (NSW), Logan (QLD) and Mandurah (WA) – whereas the Welfare Reform Bill did not specify the drug test trial areas, leaving them to be defined by the rules.
You can read the full submission below.