Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As I was saying earlier, the Family Assistance and Other Legislation Amendment (2008 Budget and Other Measures) Bill 2009 deals with our response to the Northern Territory intervention. As at March 2009, just over 15,200 welfare payment recipients were under the IMR provisions in the Northern Territory and 30 people had IMR provisions applied following a request by the Queensland Family Responsibilities Commission. So you can see it is not a one-off or an isolated occurrence. Many people have been subject to the processes and the intervention, which has not been without contention and controversy but certainly has paid dividends in the lives of many young people in particular and women who have been freed from abuse, neglect and the scourge of alcoholism in their families and amongst their relatives.

The Rudd government announced a review of the NTER arrangements in June 2008. The review board presented its report on 30 September 2008. There were a number of recommendations. One related to the rights of appeal of an original decision made by a person in relation to Centrelink dealing with income and other support. Under the present law, if a person subject to these arrangements is unhappy, they go to the Centrelink authorised review officer—in other words, there is an internal review—and that is the end of the matter. There is no external merit review process at all, as is the case for non-Indigenous Australians not subject to these arrangements. That seems to be unfair in all the circumstances.

You are treating one group of people differently. Not giving them the same access to an independent, merit based review process is unfair and inequitable. I am pleased to say that this bill proposes to allow people who are subject to the IMR provisions in those areas in the Northern Territory to have the same rights of appeal to the SSAT and then to the AAT like other Australians. It is a fundamental right that a person has access to justice and that the person who hears his or her case hears it independent of the decision maker. It is the apparent transparency which is really important in these circumstances, and that protects the integrity of the whole process. I am very pleased the government has seen fit to make these changes in the circumstances.

As I said before, as at about the middle of March there were 15,200 customers being income managed and subject to the Northern Territory emergency response. There were a lot of changes as a result of the intervention. Many of them were good in the circumstances. There has been the licensing of community stores, work for the dole participation, alcohol signage, a school nutrition program, safe houses, new creches, and improved child and family health. In the circumstances I think the Northern Territory intervention, in protecting children and women, has played a significant role in improving their lives.

We have seen also as a result of that intervention hundreds of new jobs created. On 4 April this year a joint media release by the Minister for Ageing and the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel indicated clearly that Indigenous workers now fill 319 jobs in the aged and community care sector through changes made to the Community Development Employment Projects program. There were other part-time and permanent jobs created as a result of the NTER. We saw, for example, 274 positions in HACC services and 45 positions in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flexible aged-care services. This is about empowering people financially in their homes and in their families, as well as protecting them. Under the new NTER employment and welfare reform measures, 319 part-time jobs have been funded. So it is about real money going into communities.

The Rudd government are committed to improving the lives and the lot of our Indigenous people. Closing the gap between Indigenous and other Australians is a national priority. We started this parliament with the apology, a historic moment, in February 2008. Since the last election the Rudd government have poured billions of dollars into the project to close the gap between the lifestyles of Indigenous people and other Australians, which we believe is a moral challenge. We believe it is necessary in the circumstances to carry out the policies in relation to the Northern Territory intervention to protect children from abuse, neglect and family violence, to improve community safety in these rural communities and to build better lives and lifestyles for Indigenous people. Investing hundreds of millions of dollars in education, economic development and health reform is crucial if we are going to provide a degree of equity between Australians whether they live in Darwin or the Dandenongs. It is important in the circumstances for all Australians to be uplifted financially and to benefit from the prosperity that we enjoy as a country.

The third aspect of the legislation that is before the House today deals with the CDEP program, which commenced in 1977. There are significant reforms and the minister outlined very clearly in her speech made on 18 March this year what these amendments will mean. I will quote it because I think it says it quite aptly:

The amendments will mean that new CDEP participants will not receive the CDEP Scheme Participant Supplement as such participants will be able to claim other additional benefits through the income support system. The amendments will allow continuing CDEP participants to receive CDEP wages from CDEP providers, and the CDEP Scheme Participant Supplement, until 30 June 2011, when continuing participants will transfer to income support.

People in my electorate have expressed their views to me in relation to the Northern Territory intervention. On this side of the House we believe that it is worthy to care for people regardless of whether they live in rural communities or cities. We believe it is important that whether you grow up in an Aboriginal community in the centre of Australia or in a rural community, like in my electorate of Blair in Queensland, you should have the same rights to a good education, to good maternal and child welfare, to health services and to the same employment participation and opportunity. We believe that the policies we are announcing and the measures taken in this bill go towards the achievement of those goals and aspirations and I commend the bill to the House.

See this speech in context