David Pocock (ACT, Independent) | Hansard source

I rise to speak to this Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Strengthening the Safety Net) Bill 2023. In doing so, I want to reflect briefly on the final report of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme, though I hope that we can have a much broader discussion on this in parliament in the months ahead.

What immediately struck me about the final report was Commissioner Holmes's reflection on how we speak about welfare recipients in this parliament and beyond. On the one hand, we can recognise that our family, our friends and our neighbours can fall on hard times and need our support to get back on their feet. We recognise that communities and that society has a duty to ensure that people don't go without food, that they don't go without shelter and that they don't go without the basic necessities of life. On the other hand, as Commissioner Holmes says, we can:

… regard those in receipt of social security benefits as a drag on the national economy, an entry on the debit side of the Budget to be reduced by any means available.

Too often the tired frame of taxpayer versus welfare recipient is dragged out not for any public policy benefit but as a means of demonising a group of people for political advantage. I saw just this morning on breakfast news, where the former deputy prime minister, a person who represents quite a lot of people on income payments, took an opportunity to tell the country that some people are undeserving of support.

Robodebt was an illegal scheme and it thrived in conditions where social security recipients were treated as numbers to reconcile rather than as people in our communities. How we speak about our social security safety net matters. It's my hope that the royal commission's findings are treated with the gravity they deserve and that we all heed the message that we, the people in this room, need to change the narrative. It is unworthy of this parliament to speak about anyone as not being deserving of society's support. In particular, it's time we end the argument that there should be no souls on JobSeeker when there are jobs available. Jobs are not available everywhere in Australia. Many people don't have the financial resources to move to get a job. People may not be qualified for the jobs that are being advertised. Some people only have a partial capacity to work. Others are living with a disability but are not able to apply for the disability support pension. We need to stop thinking about people as numbers and need to start thinking of people as individuals, who may come to unemployment for a range of reasons, which cannot be boiled down to a simple statistic or category.

I'd like to talk about the substantive elements of this bill. I watched the inquiry with great interest and I want to thank everyone who contributed, particularly those who are living on income support or the disability support pension and who donate their time to helping to improve the system for others who use it. Something that stood out to me was a quote by a young person on income support living here in the ACT—and I know Senator Rice mentioned this in her speech. This young person says—and I'm paraphrasing a little bit: 'Our safety net is more like a parachute with holes. It will slow your descent to the bottom, but you will eventually hit the bottom.' This is what our current safety net does to people. It drains them of any financial resources and it leaves people without the basic necessities of life. The net result is people who become increasingly marginalised, stigmatised and excluded from our economy. The simple fact is: if you can't afford rent, food and things like deodorant, a haircut, public transport, heating or even the basic privilege of a replacement light bulb, you are not in the best position to find a job.

Our safety net is a net that traps people in unemployment. This was the first finding of the expert Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee and it is why they recommended a substantial increase in working-age payments—to remove the inherent barriers to work and better set people up for success. They recommended increasing working-age payments to 90 per cent of the age pension for a number of reasons, chief among them that this is the only payment that has been reviewed in recent years and adjusted to ensure people can afford the basic necessities of life—though, given the huge cost-of-living pressures existing today, I'm sure you would find it hard to find a pensioner who agrees that living on the age pension is an easy life. The committee found that the current rate of JobSeeker is actually an impediment to getting into the workforce. We've just heard a lot about how unemployed people need to get a job. Well, we've currently got our social security set up in a way that actually acts as a barrier to them getting out and finding jobs, filling those positions that we hear so much about.

Despite what was recommended, what has been received is a fairly miserly increase of just $2.85 a day before indexation. It's $4 a day after CPI is applied, but, given grocery prices have risen by seven per cent, indexation of two per cent is cold comfort. Let's be very clear. This bill will not lift people out of poverty. It will not break entrenched disadvantage in communities across the nation. While any increase is welcome, $2.85 is just not going to be enough to ensure people can eat fresh food whilst also heating their home through winter. The government say—and I'm sure we'll hear it many times today—that they have carefully calibrated the budget to pay down the debt and control inflation, whilst also supporting those most in need. This is a pretty difficult pill to swallow when you read about the huge profits that the supermarkets and banks are reporting while people struggle to afford their grocery bills. It's an even harder pill to swallow when you read in leaked documents that the Treasurer ignored the advice of his own department and chose the weakest reform option for the petroleum resource rent tax. We've got a government that talk about revenue issues, the deficit, and then when they are presented by the Treasury with options to actually get more money from companies that are making record profits from our own resources, the Treasurer goes for the option that's not going to bring in that much—doesn't want to upset the gas industry.

Last estimates, we confirmed with the Treasury that not a single offshore gas project has paid a single cent in petroleum resource rent tax, and yet the government is cowering to the gas industry. That is our gas that they are selling off for record profits. Australians deserve a fairer cut of that. We should be able to actually put that to use for people in our communities who need it. We should be able to use that to pay down the debt that we hear so much about from both sides of this chamber.

Our safety net is greater than just JobSeeker and youth allowance. It also extends to the Child Care Subsidy, and I just want to pick up on a recommendation made by both the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee and the Women's Economic Equality Taskforce. The activity test does not work. Both committees recommended it be scrapped, the EIAC stating that it was an example where the social security system reduces rather than enhances economic inclusion, especially for women, and causes additional hardship and disadvantage for children. Yet the government chose not to scrap the activity test in the most recent budget, despite this compelling advice that it is limiting access to early childhood education as people are not able to pick up extra shifts as work. The activity test disproportionally impacts First Nations families, non-English speaking families and low-income families. It is bad policy. It means children don't get the benefit of early childhood education, and it leaves people separated from work for longer. It makes no sense that the government did not act early on the recommendations to scrap it.

This bill does not provide a strong safety net for Australians. It may patch a few holes in the parachute, but it will ultimately leave people descending to the bottom. And yet we know what it would take to fix this. We have the expert advice and we have the analysis. All we need is the political will to do right by our family, our friends, our neighbours, our community. We can do so much better, and I urge the government to stand up for Australians who desperately need our support. I move the amendment circulated in my name:

At the end of the motion, add ", but the Senate:

(a) notes that:

(i) the expert Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee (EIAC) found that the rates of social security payments for working age Australians are seriously inadequate and are creating barriers to paid work,

(ii) the EIAC recommended the JobSeeker Payment, Youth Allowance and other related payments be raised to 90% of the aged pension to restore a previous relativity between the payments, reduce financial stress in the community and improve the wellbeing and security of the most vulnerable Australians,

(iii) the Albanese Government has rejected the expert advice of the EIAC and has chosen to raise the rates of income support by just $2.85 a day, before the payments are indexed,

(iv) the Albanese Government has decided not to remove the activity test for the Child Care Subsidy, despite recommendations to do so by the EIAC and the Women's Economic Equality Taskforce, given findings that it is perversely reducing economic inclusion, especially for women, and causing hardship for children,

(v) the Albanese Government has chosen not to raise the age of eligibility for Parenting Payment (Single) to when a parent's youngest child turns 16 years-of-age, leaving over 18,000 single parents without access to the payment,

(vi) by the time changes to Parenting Payment (Single) commence, over 5,000 single parents will have been needlessly removed from the payment and will need to reapply,

(vii) we are in a housing affordability crisis and the EIAC found the current rate of Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) to be inadequate,

(viii) at a time of rapidly rising rents, the 1.3 million Australian households receiving CRA are at greater risk of financial stress and poverty,

(ix) the EIAC recommended the Government commit to increase CRA and reform its indexation to better reflect rent paid, and

(x) the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme reported that politicians need to 'lead a change in social attitudes to people receiving welfare payments' and change the narrative of 'taxpayer versus welfare recipient'; and

(b) is of the opinion that the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Strengthening the Safety Net) Bill 2023 will not do enough to reduce poverty in the community and provide all Australians with a strong social safety net; and

(c) calls on the Albanese Government to:

(i) change eligibility for Parenting Payment (Single) to support parents to continue on the payment until their youngest child turns 16,

(ii) raise the rates of working age payments to at least 90% of the aged care pension, as recommended by the EIAC,

(iii) scrap the activity test for the Child Care Subsidy,

(iv) significantly increase Commonwealth Rent Assistance, and

(v) commit to the development of a modern measure of poverty in Australia to guide future policy making in social services".