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

Thank you very much, Senator Siewert, for your question. One of the things that we do need to make very clear here, Senator Siewert, is that the $40 a day to which you constantly refer is the primary payment for jobseeker. It is but the primary payment, and almost nobody in Australia who is on a jobseeker payment only receives the primary payment. I draw your attention to a number of supplementary payments to make sure that our social security system is targeted and to make sure that, when people need a little bit of extra support, we actually target that support to those people who need it. For example, obviously people who have children are going to require additional support, so, through family tax benefit part A and part B we are able to target additional support to those people. For people who find themselves in a situation where they're renting, we are able to target our rental assistance to those people. In addition, there are a number of other payments, which could be the energy supplement, the utility allowance, the telephone allowance, the carers allowance—the list goes on, Senator Siewert. So, to say that you're referring to $40 a day is not an accurate reflection of the targeted social welfare system that we have put in place to help Australians when they're down and without a job.