Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) | Hansard source

I rise to say a few words on this motion. There is no doubt that there are significant problems with the family law system which lead to real heartache for many vulnerable families around Australia. In fact, we heard from Senator Hanson this morning about her own difficult experiences with family break-up, and I thank her for sharing those with the Senate. However, this motion is not well directed and it won't offer the help that families genuinely need today.

The child support program has already been reported on relatively recently by one of the committees of this parliament. The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs presented its report on the child support program in 2015. the report found that, generally speaking, the child support program was functioning as intended. That is not to say that it doesn't need significant improvement, and the committee did make 25 recommendations in its report—25 recommendations that the government have been, typically, slow to implement. But that should be no surprise to anyone in this place, because this is a government that has no plan to make life better for families in this country.

What we need is more support for families on the critical issues facing them, and one of those critical issues is family violence. We know that in Australia today one woman per week is murdered by a current or former partner. Family violence hurts—it hurts women and it hurts children—and its effects can be felt for generations. We know that one in three Australian women will experience physical violence in their lifetime. The only way that we'll successfully tackle men's violence against women is through a consistent and coordinated long-term approach. We need a united response in this place to change this. We need national leadership in this parliament to confront the persistent and shameful prevalence of violence against women and their children. There are many places that, as a parliament, we can put our attention: more support for frontline services, more options for emergency accommodation, more support for legal services for both women and men, and more safe and affordable housing for people escaping violence. As a country, we need to confront the underlying causes of family violence—that is, persistent gender inequality in this country today. We can do it by focusing on supporting respectful relationships in schools and by supporting men with programs to help them understand and change their behaviours. Of course, if Labor had been elected in May this year we would have legislated 10 days paid domestic violence leave as part of the National Employment Standards, because people experiencing family violence shouldn't have to choose between leaving a violent relationship and keeping their job. Families are under enormous pressure today and they need a united response and real leadership from this government.

What we need is more support for families who today, around the country, are facing incredible hardship. They want to know: what is the government's plan to help them out? Families are facing extreme cost-of-living pressures. Everything is going up. Bills are going up. Housing is going up. Child care, healthcare, transport—they're all going up. Meanwhile, under this government, family incomes are going backwards. Wages are just not keeping up, and living standards have declined under this Liberal government. Median household incomes have actually gone down under this government. What that means is that at kitchen tables around the country today people are making tough decisions about whether to pay their bills or whether to put food on the table. Families today are labouring under extreme household debt loads. Household debt has surged to record levels under this government. And these tough decisions are being made by families because this government has no plan for the economy in this country and no plan for a family budget. Under this government, economic growth is now at its lowest level since the global financial crisis.

All of this is putting massive pressure on families. I think about one of my Victorian constituents, a woman called Kylie who lives in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. She's a single mother of three children. Her wages have been flat for six years under this government. Meanwhile, housing costs have gone through the roof. Because her wages can't keep up with the skyrocketing costs of housing, she lives in a shared house with another family, with her three children, so that she can make the rent. These are the issues facing families. We need the government to take action on these issues now. With low wages, declining incomes, skyrocketing costs of living and extreme household debt, families are under enormous pressure in Australia today and they need a united response and national leadership from this government.

What about support for those families living on Newstart? Newstart payments are so low that people are getting stuck in poverty. Rather than being a temporary payment that helps get people back into work, it actually prevents them from getting work. Newstart payments are so low that people can't afford transport to even get to interviews. They can't afford appropriate clothes and equipment. They can't afford to access the education and training they need to get back to work. And what about the children in those families? In Australia, one of the richest countries in the world, everyone should be able to afford the basics and every child should get the very best start in life.

It's not just my side of the parliament that thinks that Newstart is too low. Members of the government's own backbench believe it needs to be increased. Even former leaders of the Liberal Party have come forward to argue the case for the Newstart payment to finally get a raise. We must ask: despite overwhelming community support with 75 per cent of Australians supporting an increase to Newstart, why won't the government move to grant a raise in the Newstart rate and why doesn't the government have a plan for those low-income and vulnerable families?

Indeed, instead of looking to increase the rate of Newstart, this government would rather penalise these Australians further by rolling out the flawed cashless welfare card and by subjecting them to mandatory drug tests. It is so insulting; it is so out of touch. What these low-income and vulnerable Australians need is a united response and national leadership from this government. But given this third-term coalition government's record, I cannot see this happening on any of these issues, and these are the issues that are of real concern to Australian families today.

While there are many pressing issues for families around our country, I don't believe that this motion is the right way to go for them. While the government has been slow to implement the recommendations to improve the child support system, this motion won't do anything to speed the government up and it won't help Australian families confront the major challenges they face today under this third-term Liberal government.