Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The fact we have a strong social safety net is a matter of pride to Australians. There is comfort in times of crisis, whether personal or national, knowing there is a strong and inclusive policy that offers assistance when we fall on hard times. Our social safety net has proven critical to the success of our response to COVID-19. It's hinged on our efforts to reduce the economic barriers and comply with self-isolation and social-distancing rules. What we never want to see is people faced with the impossible choice of staying at home and staying healthy versus going to work just to put food on the table, and yet, still, thousands of Australians are faced with that. This is why Labor called for a wage subsidy from the get-go—a wage subsidy that will keep employees connected to their employers right through to when we come out the other side of this pandemic. For those who, despite the wage subsidy, were unable to hold onto their jobs, a boost to income support has allowed them to make ends meet while social distancing.

The social security response to the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown into stark relief this government's usual handling of anything that relates to our social safety net. With half a million more Australians expected to be accessing support payments by September, the government cannot continue to demonise and punish those forced to seek out the comfort provided by an adequate social safety net. It cannot just expect hundreds of thousands of Australians to just cop being forced onto a cashless debit card to access income support payments—having their money quarantined because they can't be trusted how to spend it. It cannot expect Territorians on income support to just roll over and accept the cashless debit card with no evidence that it does anything but punish recipients.

Thankfully, the Minister for Indigenous Australians pressed pause on breaching CDP participants who did not comply with jobseeker compliance actions. Many providers have been unable to send trainers and staff out bush to conduct face-to-face activities. The minister also said he had put in place arrangements to lift any existing suspensions and penalties for CDP jobseekers, so it goes to show that it can be done. Labor has stood in the Senate, time after time after time, in relation to CDP and those breaching penalties that put people further into poverty, entrenching people into poverty. But we have seen in these last few months just how the government knows it can move, and, when it does move, it does improve the lives of those people who are in our regional and remote Australian communities.

There does not need to be a system that punishes and controls people who, facing hardship, receive income support. What we do need is what Labor has been advocating—a system that actually provides jobs and economic development in remote areas, instead of a system that has failed to do either and really unfairly penalises participants.

The COVID-19 response has also highlighted the difficulties remote community residents face in accessing and affording healthy foods and other goods. With communities in lockdown, the weaknesses in supply chains have been exposed. Ironically, with families now more able to afford to purchase healthy food options, there are actually fewer options available to them. It's not good enough that the government still wants to snap back to its old ways, pursuing policies that punish Australians who are already facing hardship. We cannot afford to revert to the old ways, assigning a value judgement to those receiving income support. This pandemic has been a timely reminder to all of us about the randomness of hardship—how quickly and dramatically personal and business circumstances can change. And, when their circumstances do change, Australians should have peace of mind, knowing there is a strong and adequate social safety net to catch all of us.