Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australians are very fortunate to live in a country where their government provides key welfare services to support those who are unable to provide for themselves. We have a welfare system that is dedicated to providing a helping hand through financial funding measures. The Department of Human Services is responsible for providing every Australian man, woman and child with access to significant services that we all should be thankful for. This includes services such as Medicare, Centrelink and child support. We are indeed a fortunate country. However, there are regrettably some who will abuse the system that was created for the good of the people.

The Social Security Legislation Amendment (Stronger Penalties for Serious Failures) Bill 2014 aims to strengthen the compliance framework for job seekers who receive taxpayer-funded income support through services such as Newstart allowance and, for other people, youth allowance, parenting payment or special benefit payments. To receive financial help via one of these payment methods, job seekers are expected to actively look for work, undertake activities to improve their job prospects and take up a suitable job offer.

From what I have heard from those on other side in this debate, we all agree that jobs are the answer. But unfortunately the Abbott government has found that a significant number of job seekers are taking serious advantage of our welfare system. They are taking advantage of penalty waivers that were introduced by the former government to avoid contributing to the Australian economy and our society by undertaking a suitable employment opportunity. Government cannot afford to be a cash cow for those who simply will not take steps to work. We all need to contribute to Australia's economy and our nation's future growth.

There are of course those who need government support as they are unable to gain or hold employment for various reasons, such as medical constraints. The government understands this and I support that. That is why we have significant welfare practices in place to lend a helping hand and give support to those who need it most. However, those that are able to gain and hold a job but are simply unwilling to do so should not receive this same government support.

Under the former Labor government we saw many cash splashes made without any thought to the consequences. Who could forget Labor's $900 stimulus payments, which saw more than 16,000 payments—totalling around $14 million; all borrowed money—being sent to taxpayers living overseas? If this was not bad enough, Labor's policy blunder also allowed more than 21,000 payments—totalling more than $18 million; again, more borrowed money—to be made to deceased taxpayers. That is why the Abbott government introduced legislation to repeal the Tax Bonus for Working Australians Act—to ensure these payments ceased.

The consequences of the former government's weakening of rules regarding the application of penalties for serious failures to comply with the rules for job seekers to receive taxpayer funded payments are also clear. In 2012-13 there were 1,718 serious failures for refusing a job, of which the penalty was waived in 68 per cent of cases. If that was not bad enough, in the same year there were 25,286 serious failures for repeated noncompliance, and of these the penalty was waived in 73 per cent of cases. Is it any wonder these supposed job seekers did not comply with the rules under the former government? Why would they, when rules were brushed aside and they were able to continue receiving payments from the government for doing nothing.

This is not just absurd, it is a shocking reflection on Australia's welfare system. It is shocking because it is taking money away from those Australians who truly need it and putting it in the pockets of those who do not have a reasonable excuse not to work. The Abbott government's move to strengthen compliance measures for job seekers should be commended by all who stand in this place. When we think about the distribution of funding by government, we in this place must think first and foremost about who this funding is intended to benefit and then determine whether this is being achieved in practice. In its current form, the Social Security (Administration) Act 1999 is not achieving its objectives, and when objectives are not being met, amendments need to be made. The bill before the House today will achieve this. It will introduce a more rigorous approach to the application of penalties to job seekers who refuse a job offer, including failing to commence the job, or who are persistently non-compliant. By strengthening the eight-week non-payment penalty for noncompliance, the government will be sending a clear message that the days of handouts are over.

We will achieve this by implementing new measures that ensure those job seekers who refuse or fail to commence work without good reason are no longer able to have the penalty waived under any circumstances. Instead, they will be required to serve the eight-week penalty in full. Previously, job seekers could have the penalty waived through engaging in an alternative activity such as intensive JobSearch training. By passing this bill, those in this place will also ensure that those who are persistently and wilfully non-compliant, such as repeatedly failing to attend appointments with their employment service providers, may only have the non-payment penalty waived once while in receipt of an activity tested income support payment. By tightening these rules the government will administer estimated net savings to a total of some $20 million by 2017-18—money that, instead of being spent on those who refuse to gain employment, will be spent on those who need it most and who do the right thing by government and every Australian taxpayer.

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