Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I concur wholeheartedly with the comments made by the previous speaker, now in the chair. I think that she really highlighted the issue very effectively. The issue in the Social Security Amendment (Flexible Participation Requirements for Principal Carers) Bill 2010 before us is about modifying the existing participation exemptions and recognising that there are certain circumstances where people need to have exemptions and where the government needs to be more flexible in the way it implements the mutual obligation test that is applied to people who are working. Under the previous government, this test was very harshly implemented and many people were disadvantaged. They were disadvantaged to the extent that the test worked in the opposite way to its intent—discouraging people rather than encouraging them to participate in the workforce. That is what this government is about: creating opportunities for all workers to participate and trying to establish an environment in which that is most likely to happen.

This legislation does recognise that there are certain people who need to be looked at in a different light. That includes large families, as has previously been mentioned. Home schooling and distance education are, I think, two very important areas where this exemption needs to be extended—those people need to be exempt from having to seek work or undertake training. The liberalisation of the eligibility for the existing domestic violence exemptions to include parents who remain in a relationship is another area, showing an understanding that special circumstances exist for those people.

Also important is the recognition, through a new exemption, of the role of kinship carers who provide care through a care plan. That was an issue that I wanted to touch on and one that I feel very passionate about because, in these times, there are more and more grandparents, aunts and uncles who have the responsibility of caring for their children’s children or their nieces and nephews and who are having to put their life on hold. This legislation includes a 12-month exemption for those people and I think that is a very important aspect of the legislation, because the children they are caring for are often children who have very special needs and children who have been through quite a deal of trauma. This bill shows the type of flexibility that you would expect in the legislation.

Within my electorate, there is a kinship carer support network. It is run through the Samaritans and I strongly endorse the work that is done through that network. I have visited and met with the carers and they have told me their stories and about the way their lives have been impacted by having to care for their children’s children. It has meant them leaving work and it has meant them changing their whole lifestyle. I met with Karen at the kinship support service that operates at Charlestown. It provides service support for grandparents and extended family between the upper Hunter and the Central Coast. It looks to ensure that those grandparents and other relatives who are caring for children actually have the support, knowledge, information, understanding and backup they need. So I have been able to see firsthand just how important this exemption will be for that particular group of people.

The other cohort of people that I particularly want to mention are those people providing emergency foster and respite care. Under the previous government’s mutual obligation regime, those people were punished. I had foster parents that provide ongoing care for young children, older children, children who have suffered the worst traumas, have disabilities or have enormous problems. Those carers were forced to continue to look for work when the work that they were doing was providing so much benefit to our society. I think they are very important exemptions that are outlined in this bill. They are exemptions to put a little bit of humanity back into the legislation whilst, at the same time, recognising that participation is important, that training is important and that for parents and carers to actually obtain the skills and the knowledge that they need to enter the workforce is of great importance.

As the member for Pearce was saying, it is only through education and training that people get the skills and knowledge that they need to be able to obtain the higher paid jobs in the community and develop a good standard of living. I know the member for Pearce herself was a single parent who worked very hard to establish herself and she understands the issues that confront carers. It is through education, it is through training and it is through actually participating in getting back into the workforce that you will find that people can get their life back on track. It is very important.

I commend the government for undertaking the Participation Taskforce Review. There were a number of outstanding contributions that were made to the task force. The recommendations that were made by the task force have largely been implemented in this legislation. It is important to note that this legislation is about fairness, it is about humanity and it is about providing exemptions for those people that need exemptions and for those people that are most vulnerable. It is about recognising that where you have any participation requirement or mutual obligation requirement you also have to have the other side, the compassion. You need to be able to understand that this legislation is designed around people. This legislation is designed to increase participation in the workforce and it can only do it if it is fair, humane legislation. I commend the legislation to the House.

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