Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Siewert for her question and acknowledge too that it is national Anti-Poverty Week. I want to assure this chamber and assure Senator Siewert that the government takes poverty very seriously. We, obviously, want to make sure that all Australian families enjoy a high quality of life and that's why we're so focused on jobs and economic growth.

But in relation to the specific question that the senator raised in relation to a measure of poverty, the government actively monitors trends and debates around poverty and inequality. Evidence brought forward recently by the Productivity Commission shows that those most at risk of poverty are people in jobless households. So rather than measuring poverty by assessing households against other households we believe poverty needs to be assessed against a household's minimum needs. We think it's very important to target programs so that people who find themselves in poverty—because, as I said, according to the Productivity Commission and many other research programs we have seen and reports that have been returned, people who are jobless are more likely to suffer financial stress and be at risk of poverty than those people where the families have jobs. Therefore, whilst we believe it is absolutely imperative that we support people who are suffering financial distress and poverty and fund them through our very targeted welfare system, the most important thing we can do to move people out of poverty—