House debates

Thursday, 6 June 2013

Bills

Social Security Amendment (Supporting More Australians into Work) Bill 2013; Second Reading

1:18 pm

Photo of Russell BroadbentRussell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I know you are a bachelor. Through no fault of their own, these people find themselves alone. Through no fault of their own through accidents, they find themselves alone—not only alone but with children. It is hard to bring up children—I say Bronwyn brought up our kids because I was an absent, disappearing father. I worked day and night. That was hard enough. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to have had that responsibility without my wife. That would have weighed enormously heavily on anybody—to be a single parent with a family. You do not just triple the problems; you complicate them by 10.

We are not opposing this legislation, because it suggests that it is going to right some wrongs, but I put to the House that in a wealthy nation, which one day will be wealthy again, we should take pride in and be world renowned for the way in which we look after the most vulnerable in our community.

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