Senate debates

Thursday, 29 November 2018

Bills

Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Promoting Sustainable Welfare) Bill 2018; Second Reading

9:45 am

Photo of Doug CameronDoug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Promoting Sustainable Welfare) Bill 2018. Labor would never have proposed this bill. We should be welcoming new migrants to this country. However, we are not in government and we have to deal with the political reality in which these measures are presented. We had to contemplate the consequences and impact that the passage of the legislation as presented by the government would have, had it passed the parliament in its entirety. There was much at stake. The government's proposed four-year waiting period would have placed many thousands of families and children under significant hardship. This was something we could not risk leaving to One Nation and other elements of the crossbench. The consequences of not working to reduce the impact of this bill would no doubt have seen it get through this place in its entirety on the back of some other unrelated concession to One Nation or other elements of the crossbench.

This was an outcome we could not contemplate. Instead of sanctimony, we sought to pursue and secure significant improvements to the government's bill. These improvements will protect vulnerable newly arrived residents, families and children. We acknowledge these improvements will not satisfy all of our concerns with the government's bill, but they will spare thousands of people from being impacted by this bill. We have taken the roughest edges off the government's proposal. The government originally proposed an increase in the waiting period, to four years, for newly arrived residents for social security, family tax benefit, paid parental leave and dad and partner pay. This would have had severe impacts on many thousands of people, including cutting the family tax benefit for 66,000 families and 144,000 children, and cutting other payments for 47,000 people.

I actually was a migrant to this country, in 1973, and I must say that the support I received was crucial in allowing me and my family to integrate into Australia, to get a job and to move on in our lives. This is typical of this government. This government is absolutely consumed by internal conflict and its lack of capacity to understand how families in this country survive.

In securing these key concessions from the government, we have mitigated the impact and we have mitigated the hardship. There will be no waiting period for family tax benefit part B, no increase in the waiting period for carer payment, a one-year waiting period for family tax benefit part A, a one-year waiting period for carer allowance, a two-year waiting period for paid parental and dad and partner pay. New Zealanders, orphan relative visa holders and remaining relative visa holders are excluded from the changes, and we have expanded access to special benefit when people's circumstances change, including in the case of domestic and family violence.

The concessions that Labor has secured against the government's bill will ensure that 49,000 families and 107,000 children will be spared from the government's family tax benefit waiting period each year, and 21,000 people will be spared the waiting periods for other payments. This means that the number of families and children who would have been impacted by the government's family tax benefit waiting period has now been reduced by around three-quarters, and the number of people impacted by other changes will be nearly halved. Labor has also managed to keep the exemptions from waiting periods for people who become lone parents as well as for people on refugee and humanitarian visas. These were not easy decisions to make, but we made them to protect thousands of people including families and children. The Federation of Ethnic Communities' Council of Australia, FECCA, has said today of the concessions we have secured:

… the Federal Opposition should be congratulated for securing changes to the Government’s Encouraging Self-Sufficiency for Newly Arrived Migrants Bill 2018.

The chairperson of FECCA, Mary Patetsos, said:

These amendments will help protect the most vulnerable new arrivals and their families from the new four-year waiting period for benefits, imposed by the Federal Government. We congratulate the Opposition for listening to our concerns and for the amendments that reduce the Bill’s impact on the Family Tax Benefit, Carer Payment, Carer Allowance, Paid Parental Leave and Dad and Partner Pay.

Of course it is important that new Australians aim to financially support themselves. We know that the vast majority of migrants are able to secure employment quickly and do not require income support. The Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria told the committee that the workforce participation rate of migrants is 80 per cent, compared to 60 per cent for people who are born in Australia. Migrants are hardworking and committed Australians and they make an important and welcome contribution to Australia socially, culturally and economically.

But, of course, people go through tough times and it is important that they can get the help that they need. Labor will also work to ensure the best and fairest possible outcomes for those doing it tough and we have a proud record in defending social services and payments. On every single occasion we have fought the government's attacks on the age pension. We have fought the government's attempts on Newstart, and we will review the rate of Newstart in government, because it is too low—so low it is driving people into poverty and stopping people from getting jobs. We have fought the government's cuts and outsourcing of Centrelink jobs, which have coincided with outrageous waiting times for many, from pensioners to students. Australia knows that those vulnerable individuals' families and children will always be better off under a Labor government.

Centre Alliance prepared a report, which they produced last night. They did not call for a reduction in the proposed four-year waiting periods in the recommendations of their report, and this is a very clear indication that Labor was absolutely right in our concerns that this bill would have passed the Senate without major changes unless we worked to secure those amendments and protect migrants. The recommendations that Centre Alliance made in relation to orphan and remaining relative visa exemptions have already been secured by Labor, and the recommendations Centre Alliance made in relation to special benefit have also been addressed, with all the restrictions to the special benefit change of circumstances waiting period proposed in the government's original bill now removed. This means that all permanent visa classes can access the special benefit when circumstances change. People who have applied for a permanent visa can access special benefit. People on temporary visas like partner visas will be able to access special benefit. Anyone, including these pontificating Greens down the other end who are critical of Labor's decision to mitigate the impact of this bill and get rid of the worst elements, need only read the Centre Alliance report, which does not call for reduced waiting periods. The changes Centre Alliance were requesting are minor compared to what Labor has secured.

Senator McKim interjecting—

Let me deal with the interjections from the Greens. These people are so sanctimonious and full of their own self-importance but actually miss the main game in this country. That's why in every recent election the Greens have gone backwards. They don't make a difference. They come here with their self-important, sanctimonious approach and do not deal with the key issues. The key issues are to protect people, not to come here and make speeches for their smaller and smaller group of supporters, not to make speeches that try to make them more important than anyone else and try to give the impression that they understand the issues for disadvantaged people in this country. It is okay to make those speeches. We don't mind your making those speeches, but we want to make a difference, and that is what we are doing. We are making a difference. We are actually protecting people. If the Greens' position had been adopted here, all the worst elements of this bill would have gone through the parliament. That is the reality of where we are at.

For the Greens to yell and shout and intervene in this means nothing. Constituents around the country understand how immature the Greens are in relation to many of these issues, how pure they want to be and how they end up not being in a position to make a difference. Making speeches is okay, but the hard work of opposition is to make sure we get rid of the worst aspects of this bill. That's what Linda Burney and Chris Bowen have done, and I congratulate them for actually doing the business, not standing out there at the edges of politics yelling and screaming about how bad this is. What we have done is change the bill for the better to look after vulnerable migrants and make sure that what we do makes a difference. The Greens make no difference in this place and in fact on many occasions their uncompromising approach, their lack of understanding about parliamentary process and how you deal with these issues, makes it tougher for people.

The Greens and Centre Alliance can rail against this all they like. What we are doing is making a difference and protecting vulnerable migrants. For all the purity that the Greens bring to this place—you know the old argument: the more pure you are, the more impotent you are. The Greens are impotent in this stuff. The Greens do not make a difference. Again, I say that is reflected in their declining public support, because the public are onto the Greens. All of the rhetoric, all of the arguments and all of the nonsense that they go on with makes no difference if they do not understand how to actually deals with issues when they are faced with them. That is the problem for the Greens. We probably would have had, for many years now, a price on carbon if the Greens had have shown any common sense in this place, but common sense and the Greens don't go together. They don't go together, and they should never be in the same sentence.

We take the view that what we have done is exactly what migrant communities have asked us to do, which is to get rid of the worst aspects of this bill. I'll conclude on this: we would not have done this in government, but our responsibility is to be responsible. The Greens don't have to be responsible; they will never form government. The Greens don't have to be responsible, because they are talking to a declining group of supporters across the country. The Greens can rail against this all they like, but what Labor has done is deliver sensible amendments and work constructively with the government, even though the government is in chaos. We have actually taken the rough edges of this.

This is a government in decline. This is a government with a leader who just gets angrier and angrier every day. This is a government with a leader who cannot control his own party. He is a leader who will say anything and do anything. You can expect, in the future, more and more attacks on migrants, more and more attacks on ethnic communities, more and more division from this government and more and more fear campaigns by this government. You can expect more and more money to be thrown at their base to try to save the furniture. This government is a disgrace. This government doesn't get it. What we need in this country is a Labor government that understands the needs of migrants, can deal with the needs of migrants and can ensure that migrants come here with reasonable conditions and reasonable rights.

What we would have seen, if we had simply taken the position that the Greens and Centre Alliance would have taken, is that a bill that attacks more migrants and makes life worse for migrants would have gone through. We make no apologies for actually behaving like an alternative government. When you are never going to be in government, you can rail all you like, you can tilt at windmills and you can make all the speeches that you like. What we have to do is make sure we behave responsibility, make sure we listen to the ethnic communities and make the changes that are required. That's what we have done in this agreement with the government.

As I've said, it would not be our most favoured position. It's not what we would have proposed in government, but what we have done is make sure that thousands of migrants will be better off. There is no waiting period for family tax benefit B and no increase in the waiting period for the carer payment. There is a one-year waiting period for family tax benefit part A, a one-year waiting period for carer allowance and a two-year waiting period for paid parental leave and dad and partner pay. New Zealanders, orphan relative visa holders and remaining relative visa holders are excluded from the changes. We have expanded access to the special benefit when people's circumstances change.

If we had not pursued this, we would have then had a situation where this bill would have passed with the support of One Nation and other crossbenchers. We would have seen a situation where thousands upon thousands of migrants would have been worse off. We have dealt with that issue. We are not here simply to please the Greens or please Centre Alliance. What we are here to do is to craft a pathway to be a caring government, a government that understands the issues, a government that looks after the disadvantaged in this country and a government that understands the key issues affecting people in this country.

So I'll wait, with not much concern, for the ranting and raving we will hear from the Greens, who are trying to push to their declining base and address their loss of members and loss of influence around the country. You've got very little influence in here. That's the reality. And this is a clear demonstration that your lack of capacity to understand the issues means that the poorest in this country would be worse off.

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