Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment Participation, Training and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

That is outrageous. That is simply outrageous. In their submission to the Senate committee examining this bill, the National Employment Services Association said that missing a job interview should be regarded as a serious failure. It is being treated far too leniently in this model and needs to be addressed. The opposition does not support the introduction of no-show, no-pay failures. They are the lowest sanction our welfare system has ever had and the lowest I have been able to find anywhere in the world. Over the years, various governments have had sanctions ranging from two weeks to six weeks to eight weeks to 12 weeks. The British Labour government have just gone for a much tougher compliance regime. It is incredible that the Labor Party here are going in a different direction. The Labor Party are in fact proposing a new level of sanction, which is a level of sanction for one day. Taken with the widespread discretion envisaged in this bill, it is likely that this penalty will rarely be applied and, if it is, will not encourage improved behaviour, which is the object of the—(Time expired)

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