Laura Smyth (La Trobe, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to be able to be here this morning to make some inquiries in relation, particularly, to the employment and workplace relations portfolio. There has obviously been a great deal of good work done throughout the course of this government's life, particularly in relation to the creation of jobs—over 900,000 jobs created as a result of the fiscal settings and the endeavours of this government since it came to office. Obviously, there has been a significant emphasis on providing support for low-income workers and also providing support by means of taxation arrangements, changes to superannuation arrangements and changes in the way of household assistance measures which have provided, appropriately, support to some of those who are the most vulnerable in our society, including low-income workers. As someone with around 27,000 workers with a taxable income of less than $37,000 per annum in my electorate as at 2008-09, I am very conscious of the arrangements entered into by this government and the good work done by the minister in relation to low-income superannuation contribution. Regrettably, it is the case that those very same 27,000 workers will be those who are exposed to the proposals of the opposition on the low-income superannuation contribution. They have made it clear that they basically support an increase in taxation for that category of people—those 27,000 people in my electorate who are low-income workers. I know that this minister has certainly done a great deal of work both on that superannuation measure and on the progressive increase in the Superannuation Guarantee—another thing that is being resisted by those opposite. It is only ever a Labor government which focuses on superannuation, and, once again, all of these measures stand to the significant benefit of low-income workers in our community.

I know that there has also been a great deal of work done to support job seekers and more broadly across government to support those sorts of people who are in vulnerable circumstances. I know there have been more than 2,800 job seekers in La Trobe who have benefited through household assistance measures provided by the government to enable them to have a bit of extra income. There is a whole range of things to assist low-income workers and I am conscious of the fact that so many of those workers are often women—women in part-time or casual employment. In fact, I think the figures reveal that around 70 per cent of those categorised as part-time or casual workers are women. All these measures appropriately, but disproportionately, assist women in those sorts of jobs.

There has been very good work done by the government and the minister in pulling back from the WorkChoices regime that was left to us by the Howard government, and that good work continues. I know that the minister is very conscious of things like ensuring the ongoing protection of penalty rates and ensuring that we have a fair system of workplace relations. All of these things go to supporting, as Labor traditionally does, the people who are most vulnerable in our society—people on low incomes or who may otherwise be exposed to undue pressure in the workplace. The minister will also be aware that I have certainly taken an interest in arrangements relating to payments for some of our most disadvantaged people, particularly Newstart payments. My question today refers to the Senate's inquiry into Newstart: could you update the chamber on recent budget measures which assist single parents and Newstart recipients?

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