Hollie Hughes (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's just groundhog day—here we are again! I know Senator Siewert's left and so someone else has got to start to make their mark, but this is just getting beyond a joke. I know that the Greens love to share stories, so I thought I'd start with a couple of stories of my own. I'm going to talk about John down in Jervis Bay who owns a hotel. He called me as he was making the beds because he cannot get staff. One of the reasons we couldn't get staff in rural and regional areas when we had the additional JobSeeker supplement being paid was that it was actually more beneficial for people to go lie on the beach than work. So all of these businesses that were requiring staff could not get them because people were earning more money, or a pretty good rate, not having to work and not having to participate in the economy or in the community in any meaningful way.

There are friends of mine up in Moree. I know I was referred to today, I think by Senator McAllister, as the 'senator for Sydney'. That's a little bit offensive after the decade and a half I spent in Moree. They cannot get a worker in as they prep the cotton gins for a boom harvest in cotton next year let alone where they are with the current grain harvest. If we want to talk about opportunities, there is more work available than ever before. The post-pandemic economy is absolutely booming. There are plenty of jobs at every level of skill. So we don't need to talk about the fact that some of them are highly skilled jobs. There are plenty of jobs across the board. There's plenty of opportunity for people who want to work.

This is the difference between us and those who sit at the far end of the chamber. We see our social security system as a safety net. It's something that is there for everyday Australians when they need it. It's not a living wage. It's not a substitute for participating in the economy and contributing to this country. The social security safety net that we provide is paid for by taxpayers. So we owe it to every single taxpayer to ensure that the safety net is not only sustainable, viable and accessible to everybody should they need it but also that is not a permanent stop. It's somewhere where we encourage people to do training. We offer job training, courses, resumes and advice on how to dress for an interview. All of those skills are provided because we know the best form of welfare is a job. And it's not just the cash side of it that helps. It's the community engagement. It's the interaction with workers. It's the boost to your own self-esteem and mental health. It's also a fantastic example to show your children. Too many children in this country grow up in a cycle of unemployment that leads to unemployment from generation to generation to generation. Whilst there is a JobSeeker rate, there are also substantial additional payments on top of that. They are never mentioned by the Greens at the end of the chamber. They forget about those things—rental assistance, phone assistance, family tax benefits part A and B, the pharmaceutical allowance, the healthcare card, bulk billing and medical services. All of these things are never mentioned, because they just want to talk about one rate and one rate alone.

I don't want to keep everybody here all night—we have had our hours extended already—but I want to read out a tweet today from a girlfriend of mine. She grew up in public housing. She tweeted: 'I managed to crawl out of that hellhole of public housing life, work and study since I was 17, buy a house, have a family, travel the world and even eat in fancy restaurants while doing interesting things for a living.' She is an absolutely outstanding example of someone who worked hard to pull herself up and contribute to this country. She has a beautiful son and a gorgeous dog, Scout, and she is contributing to this country in a very significant way. Our social security system is there as a safety net. It is there for all Australians. It is paid for by all Australians. Unlike other countries, we have no time limit. But we encourage Australians to take up the supports that we provide and to look at getting back into the workforce, because that is where they are going to be the most happy.