Judi Moylan (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have already spoken on this so I will not delay the House any longer than I need to, but I do need to say that I support the amendments that have been moved by the member for Melbourne and thank him for his work in bring those amendments to this bill.

I have listened to some of the contributions this morning, and I know there is considerable sympathy and concern for parents being moved from a parenting support payment to Newstart allowance. We all know that Newstart allowance is inadequate. There is a strong call out in the community for an increase in Newstart allowance but, even so, to move sole parents onto Newstart allowance was never originally intended; it was originally the dole, for short-term assistance to people who were unemployed, many of whom were young people living at home. But to shift a parent who has the responsibility for raising a child by themselves onto Newstart allowance—with a minimum loss, I think, of $60 a week—is a tragedy.

I have listened to the contributions of many of my colleagues, and I agree entirely with them that one of the big issues for our country to face up to is the need to lift our productivity, and that means getting every man and woman into the workforce where that is possible. What upsets me about the bill that the government has brought here is that there is nothing in it that acts as an incentive to single parents to actually get into the workforce. In fact, there are disincentives in the way that they are taxed on the small amount of money they may earn to supplement their pension and to perhaps eventually move off the pension. There is also a disincentive because the government is removing $50 million a year from the job agency services which might help these people to actually access work.

In addition, there is the loss of the education supplement that was originally negotiated with the Howard government to help these people to retrain, to train or to get better education. It is very difficult for people to get work if they have no education. As I said in my speech earlier, about 57 per cent of women—mothers in particular—who are receiving the sole-parent payment have very little education. It will be extremely difficult for them to find work. So it is not right that we should move this group onto the Newstart allowance where it may be not just weeks or months but sometimes years before they are prepared to access the workforce.

I strongly recommend the amendments brought by the member for Melbourne to this bill. I hope that those who have raised concerns today will support the legislation because, in the end, this is about the proper care of our nation's children. It is about not consigning them. This group already lives below the poverty line. Unless this bill is amended, we will drive these groups of people further into poverty—further into the homeless ranks. Currently, there are 12½ thousand families in Australia who are homeless, accounting for 12 per cent of homeless people. Those 12½ thousand families include children. All this bill will do, unless it is amended, is drive more families into homelessness. It is very difficult for them to afford to pay the skyrocketing rents that we are seeing in every capital city in this country, let alone the other cost pressures that we are witnessing today. I commend to the House the amendments brought by the member for Melbourne.

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