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Bilateral Agreements - Advocacy Work by the SCG
Even before the Southern Cross Group was formed in Brussels in January 2000, there was concern among the Australian expatriate community in Belgium about the lack of bilateral social security agreements between Australia and a number of countries, in particular Belgium.
In September 1999, Southern Cross Group Co-founder Anne MacGregor contacted the International Branch of the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) requesting some general information on negotiations on social security agreements with various countries, and a response was received on 7 October 1999.
On 13 December 1999, another letter was sent to FaCS specifically on the issue of a bilateral social security agreement with Belgium, which can be read here. A response was received from FaCS on 16 December 1999.
Following the formation of the Southern Cross Group at the end of January 2000, the Group sent a letter on 2 February to Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, again pressing for progress on a bilateral social security agreement with Belgium. The Minister responded by letter of 17 February 2000.
During 2000 and 2001 the SCG made a number of informal representations concerning bilateral social security agreements to Australian ambassadors in various countries overseas. In addition, the issue was touched upon in meetings held in Australia in December 2000 and December 2001 with Federal Ministers and Ministerial staff. The Minister with portfolio responsibility for this subject, since October 2003, is Senator the Hon Kay Patterson, Minister for Family and Community Services. We encourage you to contact Senator Patterson if you are making contributions to a state pension scheme in a country with which Australia has no bilateral social security agreement. Use the feedback form on her Ministerial website, or send an e-mail directly to her office in Parliament House.
Submission to Treaties Committee in August 2001
In 2001, a number of newly negotiated bilateral social security agreements were considered by the Australian Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Treaties. The Southern Cross Group notified expatriate Australians around the world of this, and on 31 August 2001, the Group made a submission to the Joint Standing Committee concerning proposed agreements with Canada, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Austria. That submission can be read here.
In our submission, we pointed out that no efforts had been made to consult with Australian citizens overseas during negotiations for the agreements in question, and that indeed very few Australians overseas had any knowledge of Australia's existing network of bilateral social security agreements.
In its subsequent September 2001 Report in which it recommended that Australia ratify all six of the new agreements under discussion in that Report, the Joint Standing Committee stated, at paragraph 2.26:
We also agree with the submission from the Southern Cross Group that the Government should seek to explore ways of more effectively communicating with expatriate Australians about the many beneficial changes that are occurring in this area.
Input on the United States Agreement
In November 2001, the Southern Cross Group was invited to submit comments to the Department of Family and Community Services on the proposed bilateral social security agreement between Australia and the United States, which had been signed in September 2001 and was awaiting ratification by both governments. Following consultations with Australians in the United States on our e-bulletin list, we made a short submission on 31 January 2002.
For more information see our separate page on the new
agreement with the United States.
Looking to the Future
We are pleased to report that negotiations for further bilateral social security agreements are currently underway with a number of countries, in part because of our representations. A new agreement was signed with Belgium in November 2002 (not yet in force) and one with Slovenia in December 2002 which entered into force on 1 January 2004. In early 2003, agreements were also signed with Croatia and Chile, both of which should enter into force in mid 2004.
Talks are underway with Norway and Switzerland and it is hoped to sign agreements with these two countries by the end of 2004. All of these agreements, except Slovenia, include double coverage provisions affecting seconded workers (ie affecting Superannuation Guarantee coverage for Australia).
Responsibility for negotiating these agreements falls to a small but dedicated team of public servants in the International Branch of the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) in Canberra. Consult the FaCS website page on future agreements for a full list of countries with which Australia is negotiating new agreements.
More Information
Other pages in the Bilateral Social Security Agreements section of our website may interest you:
· Overview of Australia's Agreements
· Examples and Case
Studies
· Send
Minister Patterson an E-mail
· New Agreement with the
United States
· Changed Arrangements with
the UK
· Changed Arrangements with
New Zealand
· Do You Qualify for
the Australian Age Pension?
For up-to-the-minute information on Australia's existing agreements, the implementation of new agreements and negotiations on future agreements, please refer to the International Agreements Page of the Department of Family and Community Services website.
If you have any comments or questions concerning Australia's policy on and negotiation of bilateral social security agreements, please contact the International Branch of the Australian Department of Family and Community Services in Canberra.
If you have a question concerning your own benefit entitlements, contact Centrelink International Services.
The Bilateral Social Security Agreements folder in the Archives section of this site also contains considerable background documentation.
Comments and suggestions for improvement concerning this section of the SCG website should be addressed to SCG Committee member Anne MacGregor.
