Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to inform the chamber that Senator McCarthy and Senator Marielle Smith will also sponsor this motion. I also seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 207, concerning jobseekers.

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Have the amendments been circulated?

Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understood that they had. It's purely to put it in the past tense, because these were carried over from last time.

Leave granted.

I amend the motion by omitting paragraph (a) and substituting 'acknowledges October 14 to 17 was Anti-Poverty Week 2019'. I, and also on behalf of Senator McCarthy and Senator Marielle Smith, move the motion as amended:

That the Senate—

(a) acknowledges October 14 to 17 was Anti-Poverty Week 2019;

(b) notes that the Anglicare Jobs Availability Snapshot 2019 found that:

  (i) one in seven jobseekers have barriers to work such as age, disability and education level,

  (ii) it is taking people an average of five years to find work,

  (iii) there are at least five jobseekers who do not have qualifications or work experience competing for each job at their skill level, and

  (iv) there are 1.16 million people who are underemployed in Australia;

(c) notes that there are over 200,000 people living on Newstart who are sick or disabled;

(d) acknowledges that poverty is a barrier to employment, and there are many unemployed and underemployed people in Australia struggling to get by on the current rate of Newstart; and

(e) calls on the Federal Government to adequately support people to find employment by immediately increasing Newstart and Youth Allowance.

Question agreed to.

I wish to inform the chamber that Senator Dodson will also sponsor this motion. I also seek leave to amend general business notice of motion No. 208, relating to poverty rates for First Nations peoples, along the same lines on which I amended the previous motion.

Leave granted.

I amend the motion by omitting paragraph (a) and substituting 'acknowledges October 14 to 17 was Anti-Poverty Week 2019'. I, and also on behalf of Senator Dodson, move the motion as amended:

(a) acknowledges October 14 to 17 was Anti-Poverty Week 2019;

(b) notes that:

  (i) more than one-in-ten Newstart recipients are First Nations peoples, and one-in-five Youth Allowance recipients are First Nations peoples,

  (ii) First Nations peoples living in remote areas of Australia face significantly higher costs of living, and

  (iii) research by the ANU Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research estimates the poverty rate for First Nations peoples is around 31%, with poverty rates stagnating in regional areas and rising in remote areas;

(c) acknowledges that First Nations peoples are disengaging with the social security system because of the onerous and punitive reporting requirements attached to income support payments; and

(d) calls on the Federal Government to act to reduce poverty rates for First Nations peoples by immediately increasing Newstart and Youth Allowance.

Question agreed to.