Student Youth Allowance Bill raises Constitutional Issues

The Social Security Amendment (Income Support for Regional Students) Bill 2010 introduced into the Senate on 28 October 2010 as Private Members Bill and which passed the Senate earlier this month, will be handed to Speaker of the House of Representatives today without the required note from the Governor-General, who must sign off on “money bills”. On this basis the Speaker is expected to declare the Bill unconstitutional on the advice of the Clerk of the House.

This is set to be one of the more interesting constitutional matters to arise in recent times and the outcome will be interesting in terms of the current "hung parliament" situation.

What are your views on the constitutional issues? Should a piece of legislation which candidly even the government agrees with be delayed because of the constitutional precedent it may set?

Read more about the Bill.

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