Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak about poverty in our country during this Anti-Poverty Week. It is important to take time in this place to really remind ourselves just how tough some Australians are doing it and how many Australians are just one pay cheque away from a crisis. It really is shocking that in Australia, one of the richest countries in the world, so many people are stuck struggling to pay for the essentials in life—food, energy, health care, housing and transport. The 2018 ACOSS report Poverty in Australia found that 13.2 per cent of Australians were living below the poverty line. That is more than three million people, including 739,000 children. This is shameful. As a country, we should be doing better than this.

No family should have to make the decision about whether they can afford to buy a textbook that their child needs for school or whether they can actually afford to put table on the food that night. The Foodbank Hunger Report found that 14 per cent of Australians are eating less food than they need due to a lack of money. Just think about that. No-one should have to go without food in Australia, one of the richest countries in the world. And there are so many more Australians who are a stone's throw away from being in this situation. Take Jacqui, whose story was featured on SBS last week. Jacqui has three degrees and used to have her own business. But when she was diagnosed with cancer and could no longer work she was forced onto Newstart payments. Jacqui could no longer afford the rent and was made homeless while undergoing her chemotherapy. And what about Louise, a former nurse, who told her story to the ABC last year. After Louise's husband passed away, she was left as the sole carer of their four children. She described just how hard it became to put food on the table once their savings were gone. She said that, some nights, she and her eldest son would go without food in order that the younger children could eat that night.

The problem for Jacqui, Louise and the millions of Australians who find themselves living below the poverty line is that there is no adequate safety net in our country anymore. The poverty line has increased from roughly $280 per week in the late 1990s to $430 per week in 2016. Compare that with the rate of change in the Newstart payment. Newstart payments just have not kept up. Again, there is no adequate safety net for people like Jacqui and Louise in Australia today. The rate of Newstart is now significantly below the poverty line, especially compared to two decades ago. What really concerns me about the situation is that I just cannot see this government taking action to tackle what is a national shame. The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has suggested in the past that 'the harder you work, the better you do'. What the Prime Minister is essentially saying is that if you are poor it's your own fault. ACOSS estimates that 38 per cent of those living below the poverty line are in work. Prime Minister, are they just not working hard enough? And what about those who desperately want to find work but cannot afford transport or appropriate clothing to attend interviews? What about the people who are locked out of work because of poverty and because of the low rate of Newstart?

It won't solve poverty overnight, but a good way to make life a lot easier for so many Australians would be to increase the rate of Newstart. It seems that everyone except for this government knows that Newstart is way too low. Newstart, rather than helping people find work, is pushing them into poverty and actually now stopping them from getting a job. So Labor is committed to raising Newstart, and the government need to act. This is their responsibility. The Prime Minister needs to explain to us exactly why he has ruled out helping Australians who are doing it tough.