Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I've certainly heard them raised here this morning, and I'm aware—of course I'm aware, as the Minister for Women, working closely with the Minister for Social Services in ending violence against women and children and the work that we do there and are deeply committed to—of some of the particular issues facing women in the circumstance that you outlined. All of that, of course, would be available in advice that the minister would have to seek before using a benefit restriction notice to consider whether that was the appropriate course of action. That is what the legislation currently provides for.

In relation to the feedback that we've provided, I would think and I would hope—and I work with many of the organisations that have been listed this morning as having signed that letter—that the commitments that the minister has given, about reporting to the Ombudsman on the use of the power and about working with the Ombudsman about the guidance around that material, including working with NGOs on that, should address some of the concerns that have been raised here this morning. It's in a response to that—but also the approach that the Minister for Social Services takes in her work, which she does every day, in sensitively and caringly dealing with all of the matters that cross her desk.