Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a great honour to speak in this chamber as the member for Ryan, and I will continue to address issues in this parliament that are of great relevance and significance to the interests of not only this country but also the people of Ryan. When I say those words, they are not something that the opposition should contend.

This is a bill specifically about Welfare to Work, but it contains very relevant matters of taxation and economics—matters that go to the heart of people’s lifestyles. All of that is important, and I take issue with the Chief Opposition Whip for trying to stop me speaking about these issues. I am very enthusiastically going to speak on this bill because it is a courageous bill and it is doing the right thing for this country. I know it is not popular in some circles and, of course, it is not popular with the opposition, but this is a very important bill. The Howard government is about providing welfare to the community and to worthy recipients when they are genuinely in need of it and not about making a blanket welfare policy whereby anyone who wants welfare should automatically get it. We subscribe to the view of a hand-up, not a handout.

This package was introduced in the 2005-2006 budget. The Welfare to Work reforms take Australia’s welfare system into the 21st century. Rather than emphasising passive welfare, the reforms recognise the change in the character and nature of the employment market in Australia. A flexible labour market and low unemployment mean that being employed does not necessarily mean being in full-time work. The rise of shift and part-time work, for example, means that single mothers do not have to stay at home while their children are at school. Disabled Australians, whose disability might prevent them from working full time, can still be an important and productive part of the workforce. It is in their interests and it is also in the interests of the wider Australian community.

This $3.6 billion, four-year package contains initiatives to assist single mothers, disabled Australians and the long-term unemployed to re-enter the workforce. To help parents make the transition to work, $47 million is being invested to implement the new Employment Preparation Service through the Job Network, which is currently helping parents to update their skills and undertake short-term appropriate training. The government has also committed $50 million to encourage employers to take on more people with disabilities, including $29 million for workplace modifications. An additional 102,500 employment assistance and rehabilitation places are provided to help people with disabilities.

In exchange for this investment, sole parents are now expected to look for part-time work once their youngest child turns six. People who cannot work 15 hours per week because of a disability will still be eligible for the disability support pension. However, people who can work 15 hours to 29 hours per week will receive Newstart allowance and be required to seek work of 15 hours per week. All unemployed people applying for income support will be required to make contact with an employment service provider and satisfy activity tests to receive payment.

The Welfare to Work reforms implemented from July 2006 were, of course, very much opposed by the Labor opposition, but I want to echo the sentiments of a very popular and successful American President, Ronald Reagan, who said:

We should measure welfare’s success by how many people leave welfare, not by how many are added.

I commend those sentiments to everybody in this chamber because they are timely and instructive.

We are about encouraging Australians who are in a position to seek employment and in a position to make a contribution to the economy—and to their own self-esteem—to take up those opportunities and options. Since July last year, 172,219 people have been assessed under the reforms to see if they are fit to work and 128,574, or 74.6 per cent, have been referred to job agencies. Of the single parents expected to look for part-time work under the Welfare to Work reforms, 1,580 have found jobs. In total, 3,724 single parents were transferred from the parenting payments category to partial unemployment benefits. The employment rate for sole parents with dependent children rose by three per cent to a record high of 52.3 per cent—well above the 42.8 per cent recorded when the Howard government came to office in 1996.

I also want to touch on Indigenous Australians and how they have benefited. They are one of the most disadvantaged sections of our community and we must do all we can to give them opportunities and options to participate in and benefit from the economic prosperity of this country. Between July and September, 1,482 Indigenous Australians moved from Community Development Employment Projects into paid work, compared with a mere 731 in the same period in 2005—a more than 50 per cent increase. I am sure that every Australian of goodwill will take heart from those figures. I know that the community minded and patriotic Australians in the Ryan electorate who want all Australians to prosper and reach their potential will be absolutely thrilled that such significant progress has been made in the area of Indigenous employment projects.

According to the latest ABS figures, long-term unemployment fell for the 11th consecutive month and in December 2006 it fell to 85,000, its lowest level in more than 20 years. So long-term unemployment under the Howard government remains at 72.5 per cent below the peak of 329,800 recorded in 1993 when the Labor Party was in office.

These reforms are doing a significant amount to change the culture of passive welfare in this country. We need to change the mindset and the thinking in this country so that those people who are able to work take positive steps to seek employment. We are not in the business of recklessly and mindlessly trying to sabotage people’s circumstances. Where they are in a position to work, we encourage them to work. I do not understand why any Australian in a position to make a contribution to the development of this country and its economic prosperity would not want to work. Of course, we are all very different and that is why the government sometimes has to take public policy positions that are in the overall interests of the country.

In the six months since the Welfare to Work regime began, 4,653 people have had payments cut off eight weeks after receiving the three strikes. A strike includes things such as refusing to take up suitable employment, leaving suitable employment with no reasonable excuse, engineering your own dismissal or attending work for mere payment without activity. So there is a very positive sign in those figures.

In the face of these results, along with, as we all know, a 30-year low unemployment rate of 4½ per cent and an increase in the workforce participation rate from 63.5 per cent to 64.8 per cent, it is clear that there is only one party in this country that has the economic skills, the credentials and the experience to govern our nation, and that is of course the Liberal and National parties in coalition, led by Prime Minister Howard. The opposition Labor Party has absolutely no credibility, and I hope very much that the people of Australia will think very seriously about the shocking record of the Labor Party when they were in office and how they took us not just to the cusp of bankruptcy but indeed into bankruptcy, leaving all Australians with a $96 billion debt. As a taxpayer of this country I did not appreciate that and I know that most Australians would not want to confront a collective $96 billion debt, nor their children and grandchildren.

I know that the Labor Party does not like to hear these figures, but $96 billion is a very important figure. We do not want one single Australian to forget that, whether they are sitting on this side of the parliament or the other side, whether they are listening on the radio or they are in the gallery watching and hearing this presentation. We do not want to let them forget the $96 billion figure. In fact, I should remind myself that associated with the $96 billion debt for this government were some $9 billion of interest payments. It just amazes me to think what $9 billion of interest payments could have gone to in terms of services in our country. I am sure that the people of Ryan would have lots of ideas about how to spend $9 billion of taxpayers’ money.

I want to go back to the welfare issue and refer to comments by the Labor senator from South Australia, Senator Wong. Her description of this legislation was that the government’s policies, ideas and initiatives were ‘excessive’. I think that people who work very hard—like the Ryan constituents who day in, day out go to work, pay their taxes, volunteer in the community and make contributions to this country’s development—would find such comments highly inappropriate and indeed very wrong. They work hard, pay their taxes and expect other Australians who are in a position to work to take steps to seek a job and to take up employment. And that lies at the heart of it: they expect Australians who have the capacity to make a contribution to make a contribution.

There is nothing complicated about this. It seems to me that the members opposite, especially those with some claim to economic knowledge and experience and with fancy degrees and PhDs and so forth, should really look at this. Why would any government or any member of this parliament say to an Australian who has the capacity to seek work, ‘No, you shouldn’t seek work. It’s fine. Just receive taxpayers’ money. Don’t worry about seeking work. We will pay you. The hardworking people of the Ryan electorate will happily continue to give you money, so just cruise along, you strapping young blokes living in Byron Bay and going surfing. We do not want to interfere with your lifestyle. Keep on surfing and enjoying the lifestyle that you are enjoying, and the hardworking mums and dads of the Ryan electorate who day in and day out go to work will fund your lifestyle’? Quite frankly, that is unacceptable to me both as a member of this government and as a taxpayer in this country, and it is certainly not acceptable to the overwhelming number of the people of Ryan who continue to have confidence in me as a local member, or to the Howard government.

I should not forget to mention some other very important statistics, which I know that members opposite, including the member for Blaxland, would enjoy hearing. Let me put on the record this figure of $87.1 billion in social security and welfare payments that the Australian taxpayer contributes to their fellow Australians. I have mentioned this figure in parliament before and I want to mention it again because it is very relevant. I certainly will be letting the people of Ryan know about this. This $87.1 billion in social security and welfare payments translates to $4,286 for every man, woman and child in this country. To put it another way, it translates to $2,761 every minute. So, in my 20 minutes here, some $50,000 of taxpayers’ money will have been paid out to Australians receiving social security and welfare benefits. That is relevant because people who receive those benefits should be fully entitled to receive them. Not one single person who receives a benefit who is not entitled to receive it should receive it. But if you are entitled to receive it then this government and Australian taxpayers think that it is absolutely appropriate.

In my concluding remarks, I will say—and I was only getting started; I have so much more to say here—we know that the Labor Party is going to try to hoodwink the good people of Ryan into believing that the Labor Party is the one with the capacity to manage this economy.

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