Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens will support these amendments. As we indicated, and as I indicated on behalf of the Greens in my second contribution, we are deeply concerned about the impact of this particular part and we share the concern about the fact that the previous amendments were not supported. We think it would have been better to have taken this particular part out of this bill and dealt with it separately when we had had proper time to consider the amendments. However, that was not the will of the chamber, so we think this is the next best option—that is, that we support these amendments and move to protect those people who are accidentally caught up in this through no fault of their own. This is not about the payees. It's not their potential mistake. We think that these are practical, sensible measures that will provide that measure of protection for those people who are in fact innocently caught up in this and who may potentially end up with a debt which they are not responsible for.

Let me remind people about the facts as I articulated them yesterday. The majority of the people we are talking about are on a relatively low income. Single mothers—let's name it—will be caught up in these changes. These people, by the way, have been ignored in the budget. A large number of them are on income support, as we also heard yesterday. These are the real live people that we are seeking to protect in supporting these amendments so that they are not caught up in dealing with the impact of a debt through no fault of their own. We will be supporting these amendments that offer a level of protection to those people.