Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is extraordinary, as the member for Port Adelaide has just said, that the minister and no member of the government can find time to come and speak on their own legislation. The real problems at Centrelink will not be solved by these amendments; they will be solved only when the government finally start valuing its biggest department. The Turnbull government have bought into their own rhetoric. They do not believe in our welfare safety net. While I welcome these amendments, they do not change the overall narrative of this government, who still think we are all either lifters or leaners. To those opposite, the welfare safety net is nothing but an unnecessary nuisance. I want to speak about that. The welfare safety net in Australia is something we should be proud of. Many countries, including many First World nations like America, do not have a welfare safety net. It is something that is a right; it is not something that is a gift to the Australian people or Australian individuals—certainly not Australian young people. The welfare safety net is a right and it is a well-earned right for the people of Australia. The government have spent so long demonising those who cannot find a job, those who need support while caring for a loved one or those receiving a disability support allowance that they are starting to believe it is okay to treat people poorly.

As I said, Labor will support these amendments to this piece of legislation, because it does mean that young people in rural, regional and remote areas will qualify more easily as independent in relation to accessing student payments, but by the same token I reiterate: where are the government on their own piece of legislation? Is that not a demonstration of the sentiments that have been expressed by myself and by the shadow minister—that the government have very little care for young people, very little care for those that require assistance and a hand up at certain points in their lives?

Those issues are not missed or forgotten by those on this side of the House, and they will not be missed or forgotten by those people who are most drastically affected by some of the government's other measures, including those outlined by the shadow minister for human services in the omnibus bill, which is about to be considered by the other place.

So, with those words, I conclude my comments in relation to the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Simplifying Student Payments) Bill. Once again, I say it is a great shame—and I draw the attention of the House to the fact—that the minister chose not to speak on his own legislation, and the government chose not to put any speakers up in relation to this piece of legislation on something that has bipartisan support.

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