Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate the minister's comments yesterday, but I'm disappointed, and having talked to people since yesterday I've come across many disappointed people who feel very strongly that, unless the issue of poverty is explicitly addressed in the way in which the committee considers economic inclusion, then one of the matters affecting some of the most excluded people in the country won't be dealt with.

I gave the figure of 3.3 million Australians living below the poverty line, including almost one million children. Surely everything we do in this parliament about domestic policy should be looked at through the prism of poverty and what we can do to lift people out of poverty. Spending government money to lift people out of poverty is often a very good investment. It can lift people up, ensure that they can enjoy a good level of health care, ensure they can be healthier, ensure they can eat properly and ensure they can have a safe and secure roof over their head.

Along the way, we should take the opportunity to look at those drivers of poverty in this country. There's the fact that our supermarkets are charging record high prices at the same time as making record high profits. There's the fact that the banks are charging what in recent years are record high interest rates and saying they've got no say in it—that it's a matter for the Reserve Bank and the way it sets the rates, when that's not the case. Banks have room to move. The fact that they raise interest rates so quickly but lower interest rates so slowly at a time when they're making record profits is something that needs to be looked at, including by the economic inclusion committee. There's the fact that the energy companies are charging near record high prices for various forms of energy at the same time as making record high profits.

There are very simple reasons for the poverty in this country, and unless the economic inclusion committee is tasked to look at all those drivers of poverty, I fear poverty will continue at rates we're seeing now. I made a reference yesterday to the Central Land Council and communication from them just yesterday, and they're observing that the rates of poverty in areas they're responsible for are going up. They're going up in one of the richest countries in the world.

Through you, Deputy Speaker, to the minister: I do note that you will not be supporting the amendments, but I do ask again that the government consider subsequently amending this bill to ensure that the economic inclusion committee do look at the issue of poverty and that they are explicitly tasked to look at things through the prism of poverty when they look at everything from banks to supermarkets to energy companies to housing to medical care and so on.

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