Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's always a pleasure to rise in this House and speak about various pieces of legislation where we're looking to resolve issues and make life better for Australians. In the coronavirus pandemic, we have seen all aspects of our society impacted by this one-in-100-year sledgehammer event. Both the social and economic consequences of the pandemic have been severe and, to use the word we've all heard regularly over this past year, unprecedented.

The Morrison government has provided a never-before-seen investment in supporting the vast majority of Australian society, whether it's additional supplements to the JobSeeker payment, JobKeeper to keep employees linked to their employers or supplementary payments to seniors or other social security recipients as well as a variety of supports to the business community. We have sought to support as many citizens as possible through what has been, and continues to be, tough and worrying times.

The Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Coronavirus and Other Measures) Bill 2020 delivers further support, as outlined in the 2020-21 budget, for those who are receiving some social security payments. Let me outline for the House some of the measures in this bill. The bill provides additional assistance through two further economic support payments of $250 to certain recipients and card holders in the lead-up to Christmas and in the new year as part of the government's response to COVID-19. From 1 January 2021 amendments are also made so that the 6-month period between 25 March and 24 September 2020 will automatically be recognised as contributing to existing workforce independence criteria for youth allowance. The same concession will also be available for Abstudy recipients.

The bill also creates temporary incentives in the income support system to encourage young Australians to undertake seasonal agricultural work. The new criteria will recognise a person who earns at least $15,000 through employment in the agricultural industry between 30 November 2020 and 21 December 2021 as independent for the purposes of youth allowance.

I know from discussions with many of my regional and rural colleagues that that measure in particular is of critical importance, given the workforce shortages in those areas, due to the closure of our international borders. The bill will also introduce a revised paid parental leave work test for a limited period of time to enable people who do not meet the current work test provisions because their employment has been affected by COVID-19 to access parental leave pay and dad and partner pay. The bill also makes amendments to align the maximum amount that eligible families are able to access after a stillbirth or the child's death shortly after birth. These amendments remove discrepancies within the payment system in respect of multiple instances of stillbirth or infant death with the same family. This bill also makes some technical amendments to the child support laws to allow for alternative figures to be used in place of the male total average weekly earnings trend figure and the average weekly earnings trend figure for the purposes of the child support assessment calculations.

These measures are on top of the government already investing almost $200 billion in a wide range of supports during the COVID pandemic. This unprecedented level of investment, both direct and indirect, amounts to around $7,700 per Australian. This doesn't include the around $15 billion worth of measures by state and territory governments but clearly demonstrates that the Commonwealth government is definitely doing the heavy lifting in this crisis, as it should be. I do note with interest that several weeks ago the Reserve Bank of Australia did call on the state governments to lift their game and spend more to assist the economy with recovering and provide the jobs necessary for that recovery.

It's important to note that we've only been able to provide this level of support due to the careful budgetary management of the coalition government over the past seven years. The measures in this bill will have a direct impact on a significant number of people in my electorate, in particular for youth allowance recipients. The Parliamentary Library outlined that in my electorate of Forde I have had one of the largest increases in Youth Allowance recipients between December 2019 to May 2020: an increase of some 103 per cent. So it's important that this House support this bill in a timely manner so that the people who are receiving income support can benefit from the announced measures. The Commonwealth government's message to these people is that we have your back and we won't let you fall between the cracks. It is a vitally important message that I want all recipients of income support in Ford to hear loud and clear: we are here for you.

As I said, with the other measures we've already undertaken in terms of JobKeeper, JobSeeker, now JobMaker and the apprenticeship supports, and the job commencement bonus, there are a range of measures as a total package that we are looking at to provide support for our economy as we move forward. We recognise that we have a long way to go in this crisis, but one of the things that can help alleviate the impacts of this crisis is to ensure that our borders are open—and it was very pleasing to see the decision of the Victorian government yesterday to get their economy back up and operating. We need all of Australia working together at Commonwealth, state and local government levels together with the private sector to get our economy operating again, get people back in jobs and deliver the services that this country desperately needs and, more importantly, the jobs and the infrastructure that allows our economy to be built, stable and resilient for the long term.

I know the Australian people have the resilience, the ingenuity and the capacity to achieve this, and this bill, along with many other measures that we're making as a government, all go towards achieving that very purpose. I commend this bill to the House.

See this speech in context