Section 20 allows the Minister to appoint persons other than serving staff to be appeals officers. This section will allow for the employment of retired appeals officers as appeals officers, on a temporary basis, to clear backlogs in the social welfare appeals office. Section 21 provides that the chief appeals officer and the deputy chief appeals officer must be officers of the Minister. Section 22 provides for a number of miscellaneous amendments to the Act including the deletion of references to the early child care supplement where they appear in the Act. Early child care supplement ceased to be payable on 1 December 2009.

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