Ricky Muir (Victoria, Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a brief contribution to the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Youth Employment and Other Measures) Bill 2015. This bill introduces a number of measures in the social services portfolio, including 2015 budget measures and several measures previously introduced in the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (2014 Budget Measures No. 4) Bill 2014.

There are five schedules to the bill, and I understand that the opposition will be moving amendments to oppose all of these measures except those in Schedule 4. I will be supporting these amendments to oppose those schedules. I would like to focus on Schedule 3 of the bill which, if passed, will see around 75,000 people under 25 will be hit by a four-week waiting period. In the community, a four-week waiting period will really hurt youth who do not have support of their families. For those who live with their parents, but their parents happen to be poor, this is also a really tough measure. Less fortunate families rely upon their young people to bring money into the household to balance their budgets. And four weeks is going to be four weeks too long and will place more pressure on these households.

I do acknowledge that there are a number of important exemptions to the four-week waiting period. The argument has been made that these exemptions from the four-week waiting period will ensure vulnerable people will not be affected. But Centrelink is entrusted to make assessments of the circumstances of the young people in order for the exemptions to kick in. I have great respect for the staff who work at Centrelink, but they are under a lot of pressure and have limited time to process applicants for payments. We know that often young people only reveal their full circumstances once a relationship of some trust has been established. The National Welfare Rights Network has stated that:

A person on the minimum wage would find it difficult to survive a few weeks without any regular income. So why are we cutting payments for young people who live on at most a Youth Allowance of just $213 a week, which is only 32 per cent of the minimum wage?

The measures in this bill have brought us to a tipping point with regards to inter-generational equity in this country. History will judge us poorly if we do not give Generation Y the hand up that they need. Our youth should not have to carry the burden of the labour market's structural failings. We need to avoid scarring tens of thousands of young people each and every year with a raft of harsh and punitive social security policies that basically blame them for the failures of the labour market to provide sufficient jobs for all those that want them.

I recognise that there are a minority of people that do the wrong thing. There may be young people who finish school, live at home, can't be bothered looking for a job and expect the government to pick up the tab. This is not on, and if there was a policy that could guarantee that only these people would be captured, I could support that. However, I cannot support a punitive policy that paints all young people with the same brush in order to target a minority.