Alan Cadman (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Social Security and Family Assistance Legislation Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2006 contains, as the previous speaker said, a range of measures. On first appearance, it is a composite bill, and we in this place are used to composite bills that cover a whole lot of technical stuff. Sometimes we search through such legislation to find the hidden traps. In this instance, whilst they are not largely significant, the measures that are proposed in this legislation are very significant for a range of people.

The minister’s second reading speech did not enlarge upon the contents of the bill to any great extent, but when one looks at the explanatory memorandum, one finds changes to childcare benefits and other childcare measures. The arrangements regarding two members of a couple temporarily living apart are significant, where there is illness or some other interruption to their lifestyle. Anomalies in the income test for low-income health card carriers are also covered.

I would like to give attention to the area dealing with the larger customer groups, who are recipients of youth allowance and the youth supplement of the disability support pension and, in particular, to pay some attention to the Welfare to Work provisions. There have been a number of comments since 1 July with regard to the effectiveness of the Welfare to Work program. Most of the criticisms have come from some of the usual welfare groups that one would expect to be somewhat antagonistic to this government because they never seem to be able to find anything in the government’s programs that satisfy them. I would like to look through some of those comments and deal with them.

The critics range from ACOSS, of course, and welfare rights centres that say that people in remote areas where there is only one network provider may have extremely difficult problems, be apprehensive about disclosing personal health details and, in that way, be precluded from the opportunity of gaining access to the massive program that is rolling out over four years entitled Welfare to Work—a program, I would remind the House, which is valued at $3.6 billion. It is a massive program of about $1 billion a year to help people on the disability support pension to move into work. Not in every instance will we succeed, but the attempt needs to be made.

I am reminded at this point of a remark of a dear friend who is a recipient of the Order of Australia for his support for people with disabilities and that is John Temple. John Temple suffers from autism and it is quite amazing what he has been able to achieve to help people who are disabled. He complains about people who are the able disabled because John, despite all of his disabilities, has run a business for years. He is a very capable driver of bulldozers and front-end loaders. He can operate any piece of equipment with four wheels with great skill and has been successful in earning a full income for all of his working life. John, by the way, was predicted to die before he was three. He did not speak a word until he was five. He could not walk until he was 13. Despite all of these setbacks, John Temple is a recipient of the Order of Australia, honoured by the Queen and the Australian government for his contribution to society. John becomes quite distressed when people claim that there is no opportunity for them to make a contribution to our society. So the philosophy that John Temple has expressed publicly and privately about the role of the able disabled is something that this government is very determined to pursue to offer people a better way of life.

Some of the complaints that rural areas may be poorly serviced drew me to have a look at the service providers in some of the rural districts of Australia. I looked first of all at Ballarat and found that there is a full page of service providers, ranging from Ballarat Regional Industries Inc. to Interact Australia, Karingal Inc. and Midland Support Services Inc. There is a multiplicity of providers in Ballarat. In a provincial city, one would expect there to be plenty of service providers. I looked also at Bendigo and found that there are nearly two pages of providers in the Bendigo electorate, including Asteria Services, Australian Business Development Centre, Bendigo Access Employment, Drake, Goldfields Employment and Learning Centre, Midland Support Services Inc., and the list goes on. I just plucked a few from what must be a list of at least 20 providers in Bendigo.

The criticism raised by some seeking to denigrate the government’s efforts to give disabled people more satisfying lives and allow them to start up in life again does not seem to stack up against the facts. If one looks at the Capricornia electorate, there are also two pages of providers, including groups such as the Business Success Group; CentaCare; Community Employment Options Incorporated, in north Rockhampton; Jim Ralph Employment Consultancy; Mission Australia; Skill Group Ltd; the Salvation Army; and Waycage Pty Ltd. So there is a range of services available through all electorates of Australia. I know that there are problems with people finding employment in remote areas, but the government is determined to make every effort and to try to provide a better way and a better opportunity for people with disabilities or who are on a disability pension.

I notice the workforce participation minister, Sharman Stone, has said in relation to the expenditure of the $3.6 billion over three years—not $4 billion as I said previously—to help job seekers that this funding will go towards helping the long-term unemployed, mature age people, people with disability and parents on welfare to become financially independent. What could be more uplifting and confidence building than to make people independent of others when they come to provide for their daily needs? Sharman Stone, the minister, went on to say:

Far from being worse off, as ACOSS reports claim, these people will be given every assistance to find a job and move beyond welfare dependency. There has never been a better time to find a job in Australia, with unemployment levels at a 30-year low.

I think that this proposal is going to work well. ACOSS has said that 158,000 people would receive lower payments. That is not true. The Treasurer refuted that on 3 July when he said that everybody would benefit. The Treasurer said there are no people in these cohorts who are worse off today than they were in 1998 in terms of real disposable incomes.

A number of reports have indicated that, during the 1980s and 1990s, generous welfare provisions for the unemployed, especially those with children, meant that couples might have been better off with both being on benefits rather than one earning the minimum wage. I think we have all experienced that. We all know of the resentment that taxpayers feel having to pay high taxes for people whom they think should be out there working. So this is a bit of a restoration of the balance. Yes, there is an encouragement to get out and work and, yes, there is a lot of support if you are willing to give it a go. That is what I think these changes are about. Will we succeed in every case? I have already said no, we will not; some will be extremely difficult. Some will be extremely disabled and will not be able to be assisted, but maybe through wonderful organisations such as Cumberland Industries—

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