Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I do hope, Member for Fairfax, that you hang around so that you can understand that your government, which has been in for four years, has actually tripled the deficit since coming into office. If you hang around, you might hear about and understand some of the people that will actually be affected by the bill you are introducing. Obviously, I am speaking of the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Omnibus Savings and Child Care Reform) Bill 2017.

Make no mistake, this bill has the sole purpose of stripping money from those who can least afford it. If you have never had to rely on it, Member for Fairfax, you probably would not understand what that is. It attacks pensioners, it attacks working men and women, it attacks single parents, it attacks Indigenous families, and it attacks young Australians searching for work. This government is truly shameless, and that absolute charade of a speech given just now by the member for Fairfax is more evidence.

Only a few short days ago, hundreds of thousands of low-paid workers across Australia were told they would be losing their Sunday penalty rates, resulting in a significant cut to their take-home pay. And here the Liberals are, on the very first day of parliament following that decision, once again going after the little guys. Here they are, taking money away from pensioners when we all know the age pension is barely enough to survive on now. Here they are, talking about cutting family payments and leaving 1.5 million families around Australia worse off. Shame! You should hang around, Member for Fairfax. Here they are, just weeks after this year's shameful Closing the gap report was handed down, talking about cutting Indigenous child-care and early learning programs. And here they are talking about cutting access to paid parental leave for mums and dads, who deserve to spend that valuable time with their newborn child.

There is nothing 'agile' or 'innovative' in this government's agenda—just cuts to programs designed to assist those people who actually need them. There is no progress to be made or advancement to a fairer society—just plain old boring cuts. No wonder people out there in the real world think so very little of the people in this place. This constant need to rip money away from struggling people is offensive, and it illustrates perfectly the priorities of this Liberal government.

There are a number of awful measures contained within this bill, and I want to step through each of them in the time I have to speak, because I think it is important for the people in my electorate of Lindsay to understand what this government is trying to do. Some of them will be the recipients of these cuts.

Mr Turnbull will say that this bill is about reforming the child-care system and making it easier for people to work and to afford child care. What the government will not tell you is that at least one in three families will be worse off under the new system. That has obviously been left off the talking points for the other side. In fact, almost half of all families will be either worse off or no better off, despite the government spending an extra $1.6 billion on the system by cutting a whole bunch of other important government services.

Under the new activity test, the ANU has found that 150,000 families will be worse off and many of these families will lose access to child care altogether, while 71,000 households on low incomes will have their childcare benefits cut altogether. These new rules will make it more difficult to secure child care for children whose parents are part-time and casual workers—meaning that many working mums and dads who do need more childcare assistance at the moment will end up with less.

Three hundred budget-based funded childcare programs, which mainly service rural, remote and Indigenous communities, are facing the axe. More than half of all families accessing these services will face an increase in their fees of $4.40 per hour. That might not sound like a lot of money, but when you add it up over multiple hours and multiple children, it equates to quite a lot. The increase in fees across the course of just one day can be the difference between having food on the table at the end of the week and not. And that will be the impact of these changes. I think sadly too few people on the government side of this chamber are willing to face up to that reality. Clearly not enough people around the decision-making table truly understand how these increased costs will affect families. And that is assuming their childcare centre remains open.

Modelling by Deloitte Access Economics has shown that over two-thirds of Indigenous early childhood education services will have their funding cut and may have to close their doors. This is simply a staggering position for this government to take. And the experts in the field have warned of the consequences. The Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care has said:

These changes will diminish our kids' potential to make a smooth transition to school, compounding the likelihood of intergenerational disempowerment and unemployment.

Children will fall behind before they have even started and suffer greater risks of removal into out-of-home care.

It was only a little while ago that we stood in this House while the Closing the Gap report was handed down—it actually only achieved one of its targets—and this is from a government that claims to take seriously the issues around closing the gap. It is truly unbelievable.

But it does not stop there. Next on the government's hit list are pensioners. The bill contains several measures that will strip money away from struggling pensioners. It abolishes the energy supplement to new age pensioners, meaning single people will get $365 less and couples will have $550 less than before. Now I am yet to meet a single age pensioner who thinks the age pension in Australia is too high. We all know it is barely enough to survive on now, and yet this government wants to reduce it even further. And that's not all. This bill will abolish the Pensioner Education Supplement, which is a payment of between $30 and $62 per fortnight to help those people who are studying. Under this Liberal government, 41,000 pensioners will lose their education supplement—more than 75 per cent of whom will be women. And, if you are a pensioner who spends time outside of Australia for whatever reason, the Prime Minister is coming for your pocket again. This bill will reduce the current allowable threshold of time overseas by more than three-quarters from 26 weeks to just six weeks. After that, you will be at risk of having your pension docked, no matter what your reason for travel is.

Labor will not support these cruel cuts to elderly Australians because we have our priorities set right. We think it is ridiculous for this Liberal government to go after pensioners while running a protection racket for multinational companies who refuse to pay their fair share in tax. The Prime Minister and his Liberal government want to take money from the pockets of pensioners so they can give $50 billion away to big business and the big four banks—because they are clearly struggling. It is just so wrong, and the constituents I represent in Lindsay would never stand by and let this happen. So my message to the Prime Minister is clear: get your hands off pensioners and stop playing defence for tax-avoiding multinational companies, allowing them to slam dunk profits.

I would now like to move on to the impact this bill will have on families. The government is proposing a $20 increase in family tax benefit payments per fortnight, but at the same time they are taking significantly more than that away by abolishing various end-of-year supplements. Family Tax Benefit A supplement is a payment to assist with the cost of raising children and is made at the end of the financial year to ensure recipients are not left with a tax debt. Currently, it is $726 per child, and this government wants it gone. To a family struggling to get by, this supplement is sorely needed. It makes a real difference on the ground, especially to low-income families with more than one child, but under this government, Family Tax Benefit A supplement will be abolished by 2018 and Family Tax Benefit B supplement will be abolished as well, so it gets even worse—another $354 ripped out of the budget of the poorest Australian families. On top of that, the government wants to change the rules so a single parent with a child, who is 17 and still at school, will lose their Family Tax Benefit Part B entirely. That is a cut of $3,186 across the year. Imagine if that family is also getting a cut to their penalty rates.

How does this government expect families to get by? You cannot make all these cuts and think young kids will not be affected. You cannot slash payments like this and think that you will not put serious pressure on parents who are doing it tough as it is. These are real people, and the pain this government is inflicting on them is real as well. Under these changes, 1.5 million families will be worse off. That is not a legacy I would be proud of having, if I were on the other side. So in the interest of these Australian families, I call on the government to reconsider its cuts to families because they are doing it tough—they are trying hard and struggling to get by. They do not deserve these callous cuts that will only make it harder for them. The government needs to get into the business of governing and find some agile solutions to some of the problems they are facing.

When you consider the government's planned changes to the paid parental leave scheme, there is yet another cut. The Prime Minister and his Liberal government want to reduce the time new mums and dads spend with their newborn children. And along the way, they are accusing mums and dads of being 'double-dippers' and 'fraudsters' if their employment agreements include their own schemes—which, if we are being honest, have mostly been fought for and traded off against other benefits in the workplace. So this government's attack on working men and women who have secured their own employer-based schemes is unwarranted and seeks to strip away workplace conditions that have been hard-won over the past decade.

Legislating a cap of paid parental leave at 20 weeks is not only against the advice of the World Health Organisation, which recommends 26 weeks off to bond with a new baby, but it punishes men and women and their employers for doing the right thing and including paid parental leave in their employment agreements. We know that as a result of these changes by the Liberals, 70,000 new mums will be affected. On the other hand, Labor is going to stand up for working mums and dads and do what we can to ensure this government does not reduce the time they can spend with their new babies.

Another incredibly cruel measure contained in this bill is the government's plan to make young job seekers live on absolutely nothing for five weeks. I did not hear the member for Fairfax refer to this part. This is just an attack on young Australians who were not lucky enough to be born into wealthy households. We keep hearing about the policy of get rich parents from the other side—I am not even sure that is a policy. How do Liberal members on the opposite side of this chamber expect people to survive with no income for five weeks? I understand you guys have an ideological obsession with attacking low-paid workers and job seekers, but in a practical sense, how do you actually see this working? Again, the member for Fairfax did not explain this part. People will starve. They will be thrown out of their houses because they cannot pay rent and they will be unable to afford their utility bills. How are young people in that kind of situation meant to look for work? It is some kind of sick joke and it is being played out every day by this government. I refuse to believe that this is the Australia our families and forefathers have worked so hard to build.

We have a social safety net in this country because we value everyone getting a fair go. We know that, when our neighbour is starving and cannot afford to keep the lights on, all of us in the community suffer. We have recognised for a long time that our social safety net for those who are struggling to get by keeps people away from crime, keeps local economies afloat and gives dignity to all Australians, which is a basic human right. This government seems to forget that and, in the end, those who will suffer most are those in the communities that the government actively ignores on a daily basis. If five weeks without an income were not bad enough, when young people under 24 do get paid this government want to give them $48 a week less than before. These cuts are cruel and are simply unending. They have absolutely no shame in continuing these cuts against our poorest families in this country. So here we are yet again. The government are desperate to cut money in any way they can from people who are struggling to get by and the community is waking up to their agenda of making poor people poorer still while giving big businesses a $50 billion handout.

On the childcare package, the desperate attempt to link their dud of a policy with the vicious cuts I have outlined has been called out for what it is by at least 15 industry organisations and six major providers. It is an attack on low-paid workers and those doing their best to build a better life for themselves. The facts are simple: for every dollar of so-called new spending in this bill, $3.30 is being ripped from pensioners, families, new mums and dads, and young Australians. Labor will not support this bill and shame on any person in this place who does. The government are like a gang of termites at a log party when it comes to cutting the living standards of low-paid workers, families and anyone who relies on our social safety net or works for penalty rates.

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