New Social Security minister Deputy Mark Dorey tells Nick Mann the areas where his department’s priorities lie. (Picture by Daniel Guerin, 0580434)

A CRACKDOWN on people avoiding social security contributions is on the agenda. New minister Mark Dorey is concerned that contributions have not risen as quickly as ETI.

They are collected either weekly or monthly. ‘One of the ways people avoid contributions is by having a big bonus at the end of a month, which means that what they receive goes above the upper earnings limit but they don’t pay contributions on that amount,’ said Deputy Dorey.

‘I’m keen to investigate how we can improve our collection method to see how to prevent people avoiding contributions.’

Part of this will be about working with Treasury and Resources, he said. The contributions part of Social Security’s computer system needs upgrading while Treasury’s income tax system is also due for renewal.