Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party, Shadow Minister for Youth) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical changes No. 1) Bill 2026. The opposition will not oppose the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Technical Changes No. 1) Bill 2026 in the House of Representatives. However, we do hold concerns on some aspects of the bill before us today. The coalition has always taken the view that Australia must maintain a strong, fair and sustainable social services safety net. Few countries in the world provide the level of support that Australian taxpayers fund for people who are out of work, facing hardship or experiencing a family breakdown. That's something Australians should be proud of.

However, we must also never lose sight of a fundamental truth: our social services safety net is not a bottomless resource. It's built on the sacrifice of millions of hardworking Australian taxpayers. It exists because Australians go to work, run small businesses, invest, take all the risks and contribute to the national economy. We therefore have a responsibility to manage this system very carefully and responsibly through disciplined economic management. We have a responsibility to future generations who will be left to shoulder the long-term fiscal consequences of the decisions that we make in this place today.

At its core, a well-designed income support system must provide a robust and sustainable safety net. It must protect the most vulnerable. That is how we are judged as a society. It must support people through genuine periods of hardship, and it must enable pathways to independence and self-reliance. Our focus should always be on helping more Australians move into work and contribute to strengthening the economy—that is the Liberal way—not on keeping people permanently connected to the welfare system. Our welfare system must be fit for purpose today and properly equipped to meet tomorrow's challenges.

While in government, the coalition demonstrated that it's possible to strengthen the safety net while managing public finances responsibly. Through disciplined economic management, the coalition delivered the largest permanent increase to the JobSeeker income support payment at the time. In April 2021, the coalition increased working age payment rates, including the JobSeeker payment, by $50 a fortnight and permanently increased the income-free areas to $150 per fortnight. These changes were specifically designed to support jobseekers as they secured employment and re-entered the workforce.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the coalition government also provided $32 billion in emergency support payments to protect Australians through an unprecedented economic shock. That support was delivered quickly, responsibly and at scale while maintaining a clear focus on recovery and economic participation and being temporary.

The coalition also recognises the integral role that the Child Support Scheme plays when families break down. They're particularly under pressure right now. Child support exists for one reason, and that is to ensure that, no matter where children live or with whom they live, the children affected by family breakdown remain financially secure. The coalition makes no apologies for supporting strong and, where necessary, tough measures to ensure child support is paid. When parents shirk their responsibilities, they're not hurting the system; they're depriving their own children of financial support that helps them live a better life. At the same time, we recognise that most parents do the right thing and of course meet their obligations as parents. Since the scheme was introduced in 1988, more than $33 billion in child support payments has been transferred through the government scheme. When parents do not pay their child support on time, the impact is real and it's immediate. It affects the financial security of single parents and their children. For that reason, the coalition will always support practical measures that improve the administration of the Child Support Scheme and strengthen compliance.

Turning to the bill before the House, this legislation is technical in nature and consists of three schedules. Schedule 1 amends the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 to clarify and validate child support assessment arrangements. Part 1 of schedule 1 adjusts when a new child support period starts after updated tax information becomes available. In some circumstances, commencement will be delayed by an additional month. This is intended to help parents manage financial changes that arise from updated income information.

Part 2 of schedule 1 confirms that individuals who have less than 35 per cent care of a child, whether they are parents or non-parent carers, are not entitled to receive child support. Importantly, this applies retrospectively from 1 July 2008 while validating past decisions and leaving historic assessments unchanged. The schedule is designed to clarify technical legal aspects of the current operation of the Child Support Scheme.

The coalition recognises that schedule 1 also addresses unintended consequences arising from previous legislative amendments made under both Labor and coalition governments. It restores the original policy intent of the child support framework. In particular, it clarifies that a parent who provides less than 35 per cent care of a child is not entitled to receive child support. This ensures that eligibility settings accurately reflect actual levels of care and of responsibility.

Schedule 2 of the bill amends the Social Security Act and the Social Security (Administration) Act to provide clear legal authority for urgent payments to eligible recipients outside the normal fortnightly payment cycle. This schedule establishes a legislative framework for administering urgent payments. It abolishes the current limit of two urgent payments per year and introduces safeguards designed to ensure that welfare recipients have sufficient funds available to cover regular expenses on their usual payment date.

It's important to note that urgent payments are not additional assistance. Urgent payments allow eligible recipients to access a portion of their regular fortnightly entitlement in advance in circumstances of exceptional and unforeseen financial hardship. The coalition accepts that there must be a lawful and transparent framework for those payments. However, on this side we have questions on how the removal of the annual cap will operate in practice and what safeguards will genuinely exist to prevent harm. Noting that urgent payments merely bring forward a portion of an existing payment, further information is needed on the measures the government will implement to ensure that recipients are not drawn into a cycle of repeated urgent payment requests and ongoing financial hardship. The coalition welcomes measures such as access to financial counselling, social work services and alternative payment arrangements, including Centrepay. We are concerned, however, that removing the annual cap on urgent payment requests risks encouraging greater reliance on what was previously a limited and tightly controlled provision. Without effective safeguards, this change may deepen financial stress rather than relieve it, a perverse outcome indeed.

We cannot consider these changes to urgent payments in isolation from the broader economic environment in which Australians find themselves. Under the Albanese government, Australians are paying more, simply, for everything. Insurance costs have increased by 39 per cent. Energy costs—as those who are watching from home all around the country, including in my home state of South Australia, who are paying huge energy bills, know—are up by 38 per cent across the country. Rent is up by 22 per cent. Health costs are up by 18 per cent. Education costs are up by 17 per cent. Food costs are up by 16 per cent. These are not discretionary or optional expenses. These are not luxuries. They are the fundamental costs of daily living that all Australians rely on.

Against this backdrop, it's hardly surprising that many welfare recipients are experiencing persistent financial stress and may be increasingly reliant on urgent payments and other emergency measures to simply get by and to pay those bills. We know, troublingly, that, in 2024 and 2025 alone, 440,000 social security payment recipients were granted approximately one million urgent payments, outlining the urgency of the position that Australians find themselves in. That figure alone should prompt serious reflection by the Albanese government about the impact on Australians from its failed economic policies and about how this government is letting down every Australian because the interest rates are going up and because we find ourselves in a situation where we have to pay more all the time through inflation, every day.

Australians are hurting, and Labor has no viable plan to change that. This impact should lead to serious consideration of whether urgent payments are being used to fill systemic gaps in financial stability, rather than serving their intended purpose as an emergency measure. As highlighted in the government's own explanatory material for this bill, urgent payments are primarily accessed by vulnerable people—45 per cent of recipients of urgent payments are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, even though only around six per cent of all income support recipients identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. With this evidence of daily struggle, it's clear that closing the gap is also becoming out of reach. Sadly, this raises serious and legitimate questions about how these changes will operate in practice, particularly in vulnerable and remote communities. The government must explain what concrete measures it has implemented to prevent urgent payments from being exploited or diverted toward harmful activities, including gambling and excessive alcohol consumption, especially in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Remember that I'm representing, in the lower house here today, Senator Kerrynne Liddle, who is herself an Indigenous Australian.

The government must also explain how it will ensure that the promised supports, including financial counselling and access to social work services, will be available to all Australians who need them, regardless of where they live. The coalition calls on the government to guarantee that the changes in this bill will not have a negative impact on our most vulnerable Australians—those who need the most help. They need a hand up, particularly those living in remote and regional areas. I'm sure the member for Durack, who is here in the chamber, will agree with all of the words that I'm talking about right now when it comes to the constituents in her electorate.

Schedule 3 of the bill amends the Social Security Act to clarify how employment income is attributed when calculating a person's rate of social security payment. It expressly provides that income attribution rules may apply to attribute employment income paid to the social security recipient or their partner for the purposes of working out the recipient's rate of pay, regardless of whether the relevant payment is a social security pension or benefit or whether the partner receives a social security payment. It also ensures that attributed income continues to apply for the full attribution period, including where a payment is cancelled or suspended. The coalition accepts that clarity in income attribution rules is essential for both recipients and administrators. Clear language and certainty will reduce errors, disputes and administrative complexity and help ensure that payments are calculated consistently and lawfully.

Taken together, these three schedules are designed to provide legal clarity and certainty around practices and policy intentions that have existed for some time. However, notwithstanding our decision not to oppose the bill, we will continue to scrutinise the government's approach, particularly in relation to schedule 2, as is our role as an opposition.

Urgent payments are being used at scale because people are struggling under the weight of an economy and a government that is failing them. The government is failing you. Urgent payments are being accessed disproportionately by vulnerable Australians, and they're being relied upon in an economic environment where the cost of living continues to rise. The government must demonstrate that it's put in place robust safeguards to ensure that this change does not unintentionally or inadvertently increase financial stress or hardship for people who are already doing it the toughest. It must also demonstrate that it has effective systems in place to identify repeat use, emerging risk and patterns of vulnerability and that it's actively intervening with appropriate support, not simply processing a higher volume of advanced payments.

The opposition recognises the broader intent of this legislation and the need to clarify technical aspects of the social security and child support frameworks. For that reason, the opposition will not oppose the passage of the bill in the House of Representatives today. We do, however, put the government on notice. The government must follow through on its commitments. It must ensure that robust safeguards are implemented. It must ensure that financial counselling and social support services are accessible, timely and available to individuals and families who rely on them during periods of financial stress. And it must guarantee that the changes to urgent payments do not entrench disadvantage, deepen vulnerability or create new risks for the very Australians that our world-class social safety net is meant to protect.

Australia's welfare system must strike the right balance between supporting Australians who need it the most and remaining sustainable, responsible and fit for purpose so it can maintain public confidence and long-term viability. That is the expectation of the coalition, and that is the benchmark to which the Albanese government must be held.

Debate adjourned.