Lidia Thorpe (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the reports tabled by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights on its inquiry into the ParentsNext social security instrument. The instrument sets out who is required to fulfil certain participation requirements to receive the ParentsNext support payments. If people don't comply with the requirements, they risk suspension of their income payments or even cancellation altogether. During the inquiry we heard from so many women because it is overwhelmingly women who participate in this program and the support services that advocate with them. I thank them all for sharing their heartfelt stories and real stories of struggle.

The evidence we heard was overwhelming. It is not necessary to make participation in this program compulsory. In fact, it is counterproductive and often harmful. There are so many circumstances that can contribute to someone not being able to participate in the required activities. In the current system, a participant has to worry about failing to comply with program requirements or else she might not be able to meet the basic needs of her family, like putting food on the table, having a roof over their heads, paying the bills, transport or children's activities. That all goes. Once Mum's payments are taken, kids go hungry. Theoretically the system allows for exemptions in cases of family violence, but realistically there will be other priorities to address first such as ensuring the family's safety.

Dealing with the bureaucracy of social services is not another complication women need on top of what they're dealing with. Unfortunately, these cases happen all too often, with some providers stating that up to 80 per cent of their participants are affected by domestic violence. Imagine the pressure on single parents. My heart goes out to all those single mothers out there. Having been one and having the same struggles, I know what that's like and I send my love and heartfelt feelings to you. Know that I've been there, but also know that, when I speak here in this chamber, I'm speaking from experience. I hope that we try to get some kind of justice for you all out there. I know how hard it is and how much hard work it is as a single mum to have the bureaucracy and the government come down on you in this way. You don't need the government to put more pressure on when you already give everything you can.

As I said earlier, it is almost entirely women who are affected by this program—First Nations women disproportionately so. The kinship systems of our families and our women are different. Our women are burdened with more complex responsibilities and caring obligations that, unfortunately, are not understood by the bureaucratic systems that we have to deal with.

My people have to deal with sexism and racism on a regular basis. So many don't know what it's like to have the incredible burden that we carry as black women. I appear before you today as a senator because I benefited from a job employment training program 30 years ago—through Centrelink—and that set me an employment path. That program was voluntary and helped me in a very difficult time in my life to be able to rebuild my life at 17 with a three-month-old baby. It enabled me to educate myself and get further training and find a job. And what do you know? I became a Centrelink manager. I wanted to participate in the program and make the most of it, but there were also times when that would have been difficult for me.

Most women in ParentsNext want to get back into the job market or want to continue their education, but they also want to look after their children. These women know best how to deal with their individual situations and have their own educational and career objectives and aspirations. It should be up to them to choose to participate in a program and what activities are most useful to achieve those objectives. Surely that makes sense to everybody listening. The government obviously don't get it because they're so privileged in their bubble. This is what self-determination means. It means allowing people, particularly our people, to be in the driver's seat, to make our own decisions about our own lives and to be able to control our own destiny, regardless of whether we are on income support or not.

I'm very happy today that the committee's first and foremost recommendation is to abolish the targeted compliance framework and make ParentsNext participation voluntary. This could provide the support parents need and want, while at the same time ensuring participants stay motivated and, most importantly, safe. I hope that the government will hear the voices in this report and act on these recommendations. It's time to abolish the compulsory requirements of ParentsNext.

I just want to reiterate that, unless you have been there, unless you have struggled, unless you have had a mob of kids who are screaming for your attention and who sometimes get sick and you have to care for them, unless you've been in that situation, then you don't know. When Centrelink cut your payments off and you have to feed your children and you have to get your kids to their sports and all the other things your kids want to do, and you've got no money, and you have to keep your children happy at the same time as keeping your landlord happy by paying rent, how do you do that when your payments have been cut off because you couldn't get to an appointment or the ParentsNext provider rang once and you didn't answer?

I just want to say to all of those single mums, particularly, out there who have experienced this and who gave their time and their energy to bring their personal stories to this inquiry: thank you. Thank you for standing up and thank you for speaking for so many other single mums out there—and dads, because this happens to them too, but we know that women, especially black women, are most affected. I want to thank you all for participating. I hope that the government sees this as an important change to ensure that more of our people on this kind of income support get better opportunities in a way that suits them best.