Deborah O'Neill (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am speaking in support of the Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and Other Legislation Amendment (Further Election Commitments and Other Measures) Bill 2011. In essence, for those who are listening and just picking up this debate which is a continuation from yesterday evening, the matter under discussion is really the provision of flexibility for families seeking an advance on their family benefit payments.

I am very proud to support this reform because it represents this government's strong and proud record of sensible and practical reforms to the welfare system. This flies in the face of the general criticisms by those opposite. They are strident in their false claims that this government has not succeeded with a reform agenda, that positive economic and welfare reform cannot be achieved and that reform cannot occur in this parliament. As the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and the Leader of the House put on the record last Thursday, 26 May, as at 1.30 pm last Thursday the Gillard Labor government had passed 112 pieces of legislation through this House in eight months. This compares with 108 bills passed in the first 12 months of the Howard government. Apart from productivity and efficiency, however, this legislation reveals our Labor government's commitment to improving life outcomes for all Australians.

I represent an electorate with a high proportion of young families on low to middle incomes. Robertson is an electorate with a high residential population, many of whom make the daily commute to Sydney or Newcastle. One of my great ambitions as the member for Robertson is to see the level of youth employment and participation increase. I will always seek improvement in this area because sustained and stable employment is vital for young families with mortgages and tight budgets. Quite often these families, some of whom are on a single income, rely on welfare payments when balancing their family budget, and balancing the family budget can be a critical element of enabling young people to continue in education and in training. I am also confronted with these concerns when I meet constituents while I am doorknocking through my electorate. This legislation is a step towards assisting regular Aussies who need a bit of flexibility to manage the challenges that life throws at all of us from time to time. Recently I attended an event named the Peninsula Links Day. This event was organised by the Peninsula Links steering committee. It was an innovative project brought together by great leadership from our local Centrelink agency. The vision for the day was to link customers, clients and companions to various agencies within the Central Coast. I am proud to represent an electorate where the charitable and community organisations are strong, well organised and have great support throughout the community. This was demonstrated at the Peninsula Links Day where a variety of community organisations were present to meet the different needs of the community and discuss the real and pressing concerns of many of our local families. Many of these local organisations operate on a not-for-profit basis and provide a great support to our local community. This extends to legal services, problem gambling and financial advice, which is critical to this bill.

Community organisations and charities can play an indispensable role in providing support to those who cannot afford or access it. But I am not one who believes that community organisations in any way supplant or remove the obligations of the Australian government in providing a strong and efficient system of practical welfare. Whilst I believe that there are limits to what welfare can achieve—and that obviously welfare must be provided efficiently and effectively—welfare must not be determined according to arbitrary ideological factors. Rather it needs to be able to respond to the complex realities of ordinary lives. Our eyes remain focused on the practical need for welfare to support families.

I will now address the second component of this legislation before the House this evening and that is the Healthy Start for School initiative. This initiative will implement a condition upon the family tax benefit part A for parents and carers of four-year-olds. The condition is that children of four years of age go through a basic health assessment check such as the Healthy Kids Check. This will fulfil an important objective to ensure that children are healthy, physically and emotionally, and also socially healthy when they commence school and that they are prepared for learning. Health checks can also have the aim of helping with the detection of early lifestyle risk factors, delayed development and illnesses. These are varied and include illnesses such as vision and hearing problems in addition to intellectual, social and emotional delays.

It has been demonstrated quite clearly that health checks and the guidance that they provide and the opportunities for early intervention and access to support can provide incredibly powerful positive results for low-income families and children being brought up in those contexts. This is in no way meant to criticise parents on low incomes. Income is not an indication of love, or care, or ingenuity or a capacity to manage on a limited budget. This legislation does recognise that in many cases guidance in relation to healthy lifestyles and early intervention is, really, a very important thing.

I passionately believe that education is the primary means for enabling patterns of disadvantage to be broken down and to enable more Australians to access and thrive in the mainstream Australian economy. There is nothing to gain by leaving some of our fellow Australians behind. Indeed, it is a core Labor value that a quality system of public education is provided to enable the disadvantaged to access mainstream economic and social life. What we must always understand is that the early childhood years can be the most important in providing the foundations of a quality education and a good life. It is also in early childhood that academic, emotional and social concerns are very easily addressed.

I believe that the Healthy Start for School is a fundamental part of this package to reduce disadvantage in our community. It is also much more economically and socially effective to address these issues at an early stage of life. The reforms about which I have spoken are important in terms of giving all Australians access to the opportunities of a great economy. They also provide families with the necessary flexibility to manage their own finances at times when things happen such as the washing machine breaks down or when somebody in the family becomes unwell. I commend the bill to the House.

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