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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Families and Social Services (Senator Ruston) to a question without notice asked by Senator Siewert today relating to pensions and benefits.

I rise to take note of the answer from Minister Ruston to my question regarding JobSeeker. My question was specifically: how many people are likely to default on their mortgage or not be able to pay their rent and therefore be in rental stress when the JobSeeker payment is cut by $300 a fortnight? The minister couldn't answer, because they don't know. They haven't bothered to look at how this cut of $300 a fortnight is going to impact 1.8 million jobseekers and those on youth allowance or in fact the 2.2 million Australians who are getting the coronavirus supplement. It is going to have a devastating impact.

We heard that today when we heard from Ben Phillips from ANU about the work they've been doing, looking at the fact that 740,000 people are going to be dropped back into poverty at the end of September when $300 is cut from the supplement. We are going to be in difficult economic times for a very long time to come. Cutting the coronavirus supplement by $300 a fortnight is going to have substantial impact. It will drop people back below the poverty line and it will have a devastating impact on our economy. Where are people that are in rental stress going to be living? They, in fact, are going to be homeless. What happens when people have to start defaulting on their home loans?

If you look at the ANU work that's been done, you see that poverty has been substantially reduced in this country thanks to the coronavirus supplement. It is down to six per cent. That's absolutely enormous. So not only has that supplement kept people out of poverty; it's helped our economy. Those people who are now going to have $300 less a fortnight will be significantly impacted by the cut in the supplement. And of course the minister once again would not confirm that they will not drop the JobSeeker payment back to $40 a day. She says it would be irresponsible to guarantee that at the moment—to confirm that they won't be dropping it down to $40 a day. In fact, it's irresponsible not to guarantee that. At the moment, I can't think of a world where it's ever going to be economically justifiable to drop people down to $40 a day. There's no future world where somebody's going to survive on $40 a day. So it's, in fact, very irresponsible of this government not to confirm to people, not to give people certainty that they will not be dropping people down to $40 a day, because it simply is not livable. And the government knew that when they came in in March and announced that they were going to increase this and put it in place as the coronavirus supplement.

We know what an amazing impact that has had on the community. It's dropped the level of poverty in this country. People are able to put food on the table. They're able to pay their rent. They're able to pay some of their debts. They're actually able to get to the dentist—somebody told us that they're able to get to the dentist. Other people have been able to start eating much better. They don't have to choose between paying the bills and putting food on the table. They don't have to go without food. They're able to buy their medications. During the inquiry into Newstart—now JobSeeker—we heard very clearly how people are making the choice not to take their medication because they can't afford it. It is literally a choice between taking your medication and putting food on the table for your kids, so of course parents are making the choice to go without their medication so they can feed their kids. That is what this government is going to drop our community back to at the end of September, and it will be even worse at the end of December, when the government will not guarantee that they won't drop people down to $40 a day.

This is causing enormous anxiety and stress to those that are trying to survive on JobSeeker. The government can help those people, help their stress and help their anxiety and their mental health by saying, 'We promise you we will never, ever drop you back to $40 a day, because that is unconscionable in this country.'

Question agreed to.