Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the answer given by Senator Watt in relation to my questions around suspending mutual obligations and increasing the rate of income support payments while we are in this crisis caused by the illegal war committed by the US and Israel in Iran. In his answer, the minister first went to the difference in position between the Greens and the government on the implementation of mutual obligations. Today's question was not about whether or not we should have mutual obligations; the Greens' position on that is on the record. It was a question about whether the government is going to recognise that people on income support are struggling in this fuel crisis caused by a war that this government supports.

Rents are so high that people on income support live further and further out of our cities and are pushed out into regions and rural areas. They do not have the benefit of public transport in the way that many people in our community do, yet this government is still requiring them to buy fuel and to get into their cars to attend appointments with job service providers just to keep their payments. Cancelling mutual obligations happens with cyclones, happens with floods, happens with heatwaves and happened during COVID. This crisis is apparently so serious that our Prime Minister needs to address the nation this evening. Well, I would submit to the government that a very simple thing they could do to help hundreds of thousands of Australians who are absolutely doing it tough in this crisis would be to suspend mutual obligations now.