Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to talk about something that is so important, the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Remote Engagement Program) Bill 2021. I take issue with what the member for Grey just told us. It was absolutely misleading to say that there were no privatisation plans by this government. In fact, in February 2016, John Cahill was a bureaucrat in charge of a Medicare task force of the then Turnbull government to privatise parts of Medicare. We already have age pensioners on the Indue card, another card that's been created to line the pockets of Liberal mates. It is up to them to be honest and upfront with the Australian people when they come in here. I know that would be a novel exercise for them, but it really needs to be done. We should put on the record that what we heard was in fact untrue, incorrect and, I think, deliberately misleading to people listening to say that the government was never going down the track to privatise parts of Medicare. It's factually wrong. That 9 February 2016 quote came from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. They were their own government's leader's words.

Throughout the eight years of their government, the Liberal-National Party coalition have failed again and again to deliver support for those living in remote communities. The barriers to employment facing those who live in such communities, particularly our First Nations people, are significant. It's disappointing that the government has decided to bring forward a bill that is so woefully inadequate in addressing the issues faced by Australians living in remote communities. The bill puts forward a plan to phase out the existing Community Development Program, providing a trial for the new remote engagement program, which will increase payments received by those who are part of the program. Labor supports that part of the bill, because the supplementary payment which will be received by the trial participants provides a necessary financial benefit to the small number of remote Indigenous jobseekers who will be included in the trial, but we must make it clear that the damage that has been done to remote communities over the eight long years of this tired Liberal-National government will not be undone by this bill.

The government's CDP, instituted in 2015, drew intense criticism from us and from stakeholders who were impacted by it. Despite the Senate Finance and Public Administration References Committee holding an inquiry in 2016 into the effectiveness and appropriateness of the program, it has taken until 2021 for the government to abolish this program—but it won't be fully phased out until July 2024. That is a nine-year-long offensive, ineffective and inappropriate program that has done nothing to create jobs or support individuals in remote areas and, instead, has served only to harm and disenfranchise vulnerable communities.

Labor hoped that, after such a colossal failure, the Morrison government would aim to institute a program that actually served to benefit Australians in remote areas, that created jobs for First Nations people and that was formed in close consultation with our Indigenous communities. Instead, this bill fails to rectify one of the key flaws of the Community Development Program—the requirement that people undertake work without proper pay and workplace protections. This policy approach reflects the government's stubborn refusal to create social security policy based on what is widely already known—that many people on the current Community Development Program who will be on the new remote engagement program are already trained and will work if real jobs become available.

It has become offensive for the Morrison government to continue to suggest that Australians living in remote communities are either unwilling or too untrained to find adequate work when the reality is that this bill fails to address one thing—that is, jobs are simply not available in communities. The new program should do everything possible to support First Nations people into long-lasting jobs, reducing welfare dependency and strengthening Indigenous business and communities. It must be implemented via Aboriginal community controlled service providers in remote regions and include large-scale Indigenous employers in remote Australia. Their expertise should be central to any new program design. The government's program fails in these areas.

Once again, the government has failed to address the existing challenge of on-country job creation for young people leaving education. The new program will further entrench the status quo of the Community Development Program, paying individuals to participate in dehumanising work-for-the-dole activities. Despite failing to fix the real issues facing remote communities with regard to accessing secure employment and meaningful work, evidence given to the Senate inquiry showed that the remote engagement program also risked undermining the existing on-country jobs, such as Indigenous rangers, because of the potential for cheaper labour under this program.

The Scrutiny of Bills committee has further raised concerns about the proposed legislative framework, in particular the lack of clarity on the eligibility requirements for participants and the compliance regime for payment, noting that setting them out in legislative instruments is giving the minister very, very broad discretionary powers. Even worse, the Morrison government's, some may say, deliberate lack of clarity on the administrative arrangements for delivering the program has made it impossible for the Australian Human Rights Commission to provide clear advice on the discriminatory status of this program. The bill fails to address the key flaws of the Community Development Program and it fails to provide any clear pathway to employment for those living in remote communities.

We call on the Morrison government to demonstrate a genuine commitment to the goals of self-determination and community based governance, and support the economic growth of rural and remote communities. The government has deliberately broken its promise on the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and First Nations people have a right to be concerned about the Morrison government's commitment to addressing the issues which face so many remote communities. It has started the promised co-design process by designing the participation payments for the pilots without consultation with First Nations people. The government must act to rebuild trust and meet its commitment under priority No. 1 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, and deliver co-designed employment services for remote regions.

This government's ongoing apathy towards First Nations people in remote communities is a cornerstone of its time in leadership. The failure on these communities stretches far and wide. We have seen the government's failure on remote communities and its inability to ensure adequate access to basic medical services, such as a simple visit to a GP. The government's failures on remote and Indigenous communities throughout the course of the pandemic have been stark as well. Vaccination rates in these communities lag far behind those of many parts of the rest of the country, placing these communities at immense risk as our country begins to open up. The Morrison government's lack of motivation to address the issues facing Indigenous and remote communities is not just a problem, I fear; it's a national disgrace.

The government has proposed a bill which fails to reform key issues of existing legislation in this area and provides no real plan to accurately create jobs and enable self-determination in disadvantaged and oppressed communities. Let me make it clear: this bill is far from perfect. In fact, it's not really adequate. However, in the short term the payments offer individuals a financial benefit totalling at least $5,200 over two years. That will have small flow-on for families and communities. Given the significant poverty in remote Australia, largely because of the lack of economic activity and the impact of the community development program, this bill should not be rejected in this place. Allow passage of this bill, and Labor will do that. It should not be constructed as approval.

Australians living in remote areas deserve far more than what the Morrison government is offering in this bill, particularly Indigenous Australians, who face many barriers with access to employment, education, healthcare services and so many other aspects of life that we take for granted. These disadvantages are reflected in the quality of life and the life expectancy of people living in these communities. Labor has a real plan to address these issues, to create jobs, to improve social services, to provide social security in ways that respect the lived experience of those we seek to help. The Morrison government talks a big game when it comes to closing the gap and supporting Indigenous Australians, particularly those in remote communities. But this attempt at social service reform is another more than embarrassing attempt for the government to launder their image.

Real and immediate action is needed in order to support First Nations people. We need the expansion of job programs, like the Indigenous Rangers Program that have been proven to work. We need to abolish programs that have demonstrated harm to communities, not just rename them. Labor has committed to ending the Community Development Program and replacing it with real jobs creation and an economic program for remote Australia, not just the same flawed program with a new marketing label put on by the Morrison government, which is what they are proposing. Working with First Nations people and consulting with relevant stakeholders are crucial to creating social security programs that truly address the issues that those living in remote communities face, and it removes the very real barriers to accessing employment in these areas. First Nations people and those living in remote communities deserve better than this Morrison government. They deserve better than an old, failed program repackaged with a new name, which is what this bill is.

I accept that we have to support it, because any financial gain to those living in remote communities will provide much-needed benefit to those individuals, to their families and to the communities. But we cannot for a moment pretend that this bill is good enough. The trial that this bill proposes will begin with 200 individuals. For those on the other side, that leaves 40,000 Australians currently participating in the Community Development Program to continue to struggle in poverty, forced to work without adequate wages, all for the benefit of actual employment, with no prospect for change under this government until at least 2024.

What Australia needs is a real plan for jobs in remote communities, a plan to support individuals with dignity and respect through the process of finding meaningful work. The Morrison government's new plan is really just their old plan, a plan that failed. We need a new plan. Labor has one. We know that only an Albanese-Labor-led government will deliver it. Anthony Albanese and Labor are on the side of our Indigenous Australians. That is not lip service; it is something we stand for wholly and solely. The chance at the next election to replace this tired old government that is full of marketing slogans, rorts and rip-offs has never been more important for our nation's history.

As I said, Labor are not going to oppose this bill because there is a tiny bit of benefit to a very small number of people. But it does not go far enough, it does not deliver enough and it still does nothing to address the disadvantage that people in remote communities face. It is not good enough. It is a classic example of a government that actually does not care, that is focused more on its next headline than on delivering brings meaningful change. We know that for Australians right across this nation, when you give them decent employment and job opportunities you build up their self-esteem, you build up their dignity and you help them get out of poverty. Just once it would be great if the government thought about other people rather than itself.

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