Gabriel Ng (Menzies, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government is committed to delivering a fairer, more efficient social security system that Australians can trust. After years of neglect from those opposite, it has fallen to this government to take on this important task—repairing a system that has too often failed the people it was meant to support. We believe in a strong and reliable social safety net—a key to Labor's values and a key to a fair society. It is there for all of us at different times in our lives, and its integrity must be protected so it continues to serve Australians who are doing it tough. This bill is a step in rebuilding trust. It reforms the way we manage social security system debts to ensure greater fairness, transparency and accountability. By putting in place a more robust framework, we can restore community confidence in the system and make sure people know it operates with integrity and compassion.

Importantly, this legislation also addresses a deeply troubling issue. As the member for Bonner so eloquently put it, based on her experience as a family violence lawyer, financial abuse that occurs within the contexts of domestic and family violence is a scourge that is too often enacted using our social security system. Too often, perpetrators exploit the payment systems to exert control and harm. These reforms will ensure that our social security system is no longer a tool for abuse but a source of support for those who need it most. This bill reflects our commitment to a social safety net that is fair, humane and worthy of the trust the Australian people place in it.

In my first speech in this place, I spoke about the former coalition government's betrayal of the Australian people through robodebt. Vulnerable Australians were relentlessly harassed by the former government for debts they did not owe—debts that had been inaccurately and illegally calculated. This was not simply a failure of administration; it was a profound moral failure. It showed contempt for vulnerable Australians and revealed the ultimate consequences of a public service that had been hollowed out by years of neoliberal ideology and cronyism. The damage caused by robodebt was clear for all to see. In some heartbreaking cases, the unjust harassment and pressure were so severe that it led to people taking their lives. Families were left grieving. People who turned to the social safety net in their time of need were made to feel like criminals. Its impact on public faith and confidence in our social security system cannot be overstated.

That is why this government has been so committed to rebuilding the system and restoring trust and fairness. We know that a functional social safety net is a cornerstone of a decent and compassionate society. That is why the Albanese Labor government established the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme—to get to the truth of what happened, to give a voice to those harmed and to make sure this never happens again. We have accepted or accepted in principle all 56 recommendations made to government. That work is ongoing. It will continue to drive meaningful changes to how we manage social security payments and debts in Australia. We know that it takes a Labor government to put people back at the centre of our government services. It is what we were elected to do. This legislation demonstrates that commitment clearly, and it builds on the work we did throughout our first term in government to restore integrity to our public services, rebuild capability in the public sector and ensure decisions are made in the public interest.

Recently I had the pleasure of visiting a Services Australia office in Box Hill, in Menzies, with the Assistant Minister for the Public Service, Patrick Gorman. There we met dedicated, expert staff who support the public to gain access to essential government services. As a former public servant, I greatly appreciated the time Assistant Minister Gorman took with the staff, thanking them for their service and recognising the essential work they do. One of these staff members had been working as labour hire but was given a permanent APS job under this government. She spoke about her relief at having secure work—of the certainty, stability and ability to plan for the future that this provided. I was also pleased to see that staff from the NDIS were co-located with Centrelink staff. Often people seeking help from the government will be facing multiple issues. The truth is that government services can be siloed or a bureaucratic labyrinth. Co-location is one way we can not only better use government resources but also create a better experience for those seeking to engage government assistance.

The actions of this government stand in stark contrast to the coalition. Those opposite will always argue for smaller government and outsourcing of critical services. They show their contempt for the Public Service with arbitrary staffing caps and, at the last election, a cut of 41,000 positions. This had nothing to do with the job that needed to be done and everything to do with neoliberal ideology. Outsourcing is not only worse for workers; it is inefficient. It means higher staff turnover, a failure to develop institutional expertise and less secure jobs for those doing essential services.

For Australians, hollowing out the Public Service comes as at a cost. It is a cost borne by the most vulnerable in our communities. This legislation is another step in rebuilding trust, strengthening fairness and ensuring government services are delivered with the dignity and respect that every Australian deserves. This government has made the investments to make sure our service system works for the Australians who need it. We have taken necessary steps to improve the way our social security system functions so that it is fair, efficient and centred on people. This has included recruiting around 3,000 more frontline staff, like the staff that I met at Services Australia in Box Hill, to improve access to services and reduce pressure on existing workers.

We've reduced call wait time at Services Australia so that Australians can reach the help they need faster. We have lifted claims processing rates, which means more money is getting back into families' pockets. We've ended the use of external debt collection agencies by government, bringing this work back under proper oversight. We've engaged community legal services to support vulnerable people who may have debts and need advice and advocacy, and we've increased payments and improved accuracy so that Australians receive the support they are entitled to. These changes have made a real difference. This bill builds on this record and takes the next step in establishing a more efficient social security system.

We know that Australians generally engage with the social security system in good faith. The overwhelming majority of people who rely on this support do the right thing. It should be acknowledged there are significant administrative costs involved in chasing and recovering very small debts, which often outweigh the value of the debts themselves. That is why we are increasing the threshold for small debts for the first time in over 30 years, lifting it from $50 to $250. This change will make a substantial impact. This will waive around 1.2 million debts that would have been raised in the 2025-26 financial year. It's a commonsense reform; it will save time, it will reduce the administrative burden and it will allow Services Australia staff to focus on things that matter most. By increasing this threshold we are making the system more efficient and productive, but we are still maintaining appropriate safeguards to protect against fraudulent activity. The change strikes the right balance between fiscal responsibility and fairness to the people who use the system.

We remain firmly committed to ensuring that our social security services focus on preventing serious systems abuse. Family and domestic violence can be complex and corrosive in the way it is perpetrated. When I was volunteering at community legal centres and working as a judge's associate at the courts, I saw firsthand the epidemic of family violence and systems abuse. As the member for Bonner put it so well, family violence is not just about physical abuse. It is about coercive control. It is about financial abuse. It can be about systems abuse, dragging people through the courts to continue to exert control on them. And it can also be about accruing debts to enact harm on people—harm that lasts for months and years, as people are unable to gain financial independence. This economic abuse plays a major role in the broader picture of abuse, particularly in cases of intimate partner violence.

Sadly, our social services system has not been exempt from being used as a tool of financial abuse. The weaponisation of debt through the payment system is one of those tools perpetrators have used to maintain power and control. This bill delivers on the Albanese Labor government's election commitment to embed safety in Commonwealth systems and ensures that our social security system cannot be weaponised against victims-survivors. This legislation will enable Services Australia staff, when considering a debt waiver, to consider all the circumstances that led to someone knowingly making a false statement to the government. This will include consideration of evidence of financial abuse and coercive control. This will help ensure that systems abuse can no longer be used by perpetrators.

While there is still more work to do to make sure all our government service systems act as a firewall against such abuse, this bill is an important step in the right direction. Ending family and domestic violence will mean pulling on every lever available to us to create a culture that promotes safety and financial security for all. It will continue the work of reform, particularly as it relates to the tax and social security systems, so that victims are not responsible for the debts that perpetrators accrue. I am proud to be part of a Labor government that is focused on doing the work of preventing and responding to family violence at every level, including through the introduction of this bill.

Historically, income apportionment has been used to determine social security debts. This is not a practice that the Albanese Labor government has ever used. This bill provides legal clarity around this historical practice and, importantly, establishes the income appropriate resolution scheme. This means that this scheme will offer redress for those who were unfairly affected by this practice. People with historical debts potentially affected by income apportionment between 1 September 2003 and 6 December 2020 will be eligible to apply for a resolution payment of up to $600. These payments recognise that this practice was invalid. They also recognise the need to deal with the legacy of this practice and to create a pathway for people to seek compensation if they were impacted by this practice. This scheme recognises the importance of balancing our support of vulnerable Australians with ensuring taxpayers' money is spent effectively and efficiently. It reaffirms our commitment to a robust social safety net that looks after people and is sustainable for generations to come.

This bill is a significant step in our ongoing work to restore integrity to the social security system, to restore the strength of the Public Service and to protect families from domestic and family violence in the form of financial abuse. It ensures the mistakes of the past are addressed while embedding fairness and accountability in future practice. It is about fairness. It's about humanity and dignity within the practices of our payment arrangements. It is also about rebuilding trust with the Australian people, who rightly expect public services to act in their best interests and in good faith. Restoring that confidence will not happen overnight. It will only happen under a Labor government doing the work to invest back in these frontline services.

These are reforms that will affect millions of Australians. They mean our social security system will work for those who need it most, well into the future. I commend this bill to the House.

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