Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Payments) Share this | Hansard source

This bill seeks to amend the current income management arrangements. It will abolish the 'vulnerable' measure of income management—the measure that identifies the most vulnerable people who may benefit from income management. It will cut away much-needed support from these vulnerable people—support provided by Centrelink social workers.

This bill will also abolish the matched savings and voluntary incentive payments—matched savings payments of up to $500 for people on income management who have completed a financial literacy course and can demonstrate a savings pattern; and voluntary incentive payments of $250 paid to people who volunteer for income management for every 26 continuous weeks. Let me clear: Labor does support income management when it is targeted to those most in need. Income management ensures that money is available for life's essentials. It provides a tool to stabilise people's circumstances and ease immediate financial stress. Income management works to make sure that income support payments are spent in the best interests of children and families. It means more money goes to food, clothes and rent, and less money to buying alcohol and gambling.

In 2008 in Perth and in the East and West Kimberley, Labor trialled child protection income management, making income management available to child protection workers to assist families at risk of child abuse and neglect. In 2010, following widespread consultation, the Labor government introduced a new, non-discriminatory model of income management in the Northern Territory. This took it from a blanket, discriminatory program that had been designed by the Howard government to a tailored income management approach applying it to at-risk and vulnerable income support recipients, to support people with a high risk of social isolation, those with poor money management skills and those likely to participate in risky behaviours.

In 2012, Labor introduced income management in five disadvantaged locations across Australia as part of our Building Australia's Future Workforce reforms: Playford in South Australia, Greater Shepparton in Victoria, Bankstown in New South Wales, and Rockhampton and Logan in Queensland. This was to help families in those locations stabilise their lives so that they could prepare and look for work.

Following calls for income management and after consultation with families, the Labor government agreed to implement income management in the APY lands in South Australia, to help families in those APY lands make sure that less money was spent on alcohol and gambling and more money was available for food, clothing and other life essentials. In 2013, Labor introduced income management in Laverton and the Ngaanyatjarra lands in Western Australia, to provide families in Laverton and the Ngaanyatjarra lands with an important tool to help families budget in the best interests of their children. We also worked with the Northern Territory government to provide income management to help deal with people who came before the Northern Territory Alcohol Mandatory Treatment Tribunal, making less money available to spend on alcohol. And right now, across Australia, it is possible for child protection workers to use income management as a tool to support families at risk of child neglect. Unfortunately most states do not use this provision.

I know from my own experiences, from what people have told me, that income management is making a difference to people's lives. Mildred Inkamala, from the Northern Territory community of Hermannsburg, said:

For my people, it's done a very good thing. Kids are going to school, they're healthier, people are not spending all their money on grog.

In Perth, I visited a money management service where young women on child protection income management told me it was helping them stabilise their lives and, in particular, their housing circumstances. These women told me that income management helped them budget and pay their bills. And, as their lives improved, they were able to spend more time with their children.

Income management was part of the Labor government's reforms to build an income support system based on the principles of engagement, participation and responsibility. It was Labor that worked to progressively reform the income support and family payment system to foster responsibility and self-respect; to ensure income support is spent where it is intended, on the essentials of life and in the interests of children; and, importantly, to make sure that income support payments support those who need it most. Labor showed that it is possible to be financially responsible at the same time as supporting Australia's most vulnerable. We showed what it means to be fair.

In 2008 Labor introduced means-testing to family tax benefit part B. We also means-tested the baby bonus, to make sure that support was going to those who needed it most. As part of Labor's Building Australia's Future Workforce package, we introduced new measures to promote long-term economic participation in 10 of the nation's most disadvantaged communities; extra responsibilities and more assistance for teenage parents on income support, jobless families and other vulnerable groups; new requirements for teenage parents who are receiving parenting payment to meet an individually crafted participation plan; plans focused on education pathways, including school completion, foundation skills or certificate-level qualifications; support for children and families and help for parents to enter or return to the workforce. Labor introduced compulsory participation requirements for parents who are disengaged from the workforce and receiving income support to attend interviews with Centrelink caseworkers. Interviews with Centrelink caseworkers help to make sure that children are ready for school and help the parents to address any prevocational barriers to future employment.

Through these reforms to our income support system, Labor showed what it is to be fair, making sure that everyone has a decent standard of living at the same as supporting the most vulnerable, helping people take responsibility for their own lives. We know that very vulnerable people and families need more assistance than the quarantining of income support payments and the tightening of participation requirements. We strengthened the relationship between money management services and Centrelink, to make sure that people on income management are receiving help to build their financial literacy, including budgeting, banking, savings and awareness of the risks of payday loans.

Labor provided financial literacy support to people on income management. We also provided additional family support services in regions where income management applied and other disadvantaged locations. We made sure that people on income management met regularly with Centrelink social workers, to help them budget, make sure their priority needs were met and address other issues in their lives that were impacting on their wellbeing.

Centrelink social workers meet regularly with people on income management to help them budget effectively and to allocate their income managed funds to priority needs like rent, utilities, food or household items. Unfortunately, that is what this government wants to take away in this bill. It wants to take away some of the support to people on income management. This government, through this bill, wants to take away support from families and people who need it most, and we will not agree to that.

Labor believes income management should be targeted. We do not believe that everyone on income support should be on or would benefit from income management. The vast majority of people on income support are perfectly able to manage their own money. Income management is also not a punishment, and that is why the vulnerable measure of income management is so important. The vulnerable measure of income management aims to identify and help vulnerable and at-risk individuals and their families. A Centrelink social worker has determined that income management can help them or their family. They have been assessed by a Centrelink social worker to be in financial hardship or experiencing financial exploitation. The person may be homeless or at risk of homelessness, or they may not be taking care of themselves or their children. The Centrelink social worker aspect of the vulnerable measure is a very important way in which those who most need help are identified and supported, so Labor will not support the abolishment of this measure. We do not support the removal of this vital role of Centrelink social workers.

In government, Labor was firm in its commitment to protecting and providing for children and vulnerable people, and our commitment continues. That is why we will not support this government's attempt to take away support for these very vulnerable people. We will oppose the parts of this bill that see social worker interaction and assistance stripped from those who need it most. We will not support changes to income management that take away help for budgeting and prioritising money that makes sure that that money is directed to rent, food and support for children. Labor will continue to support income management as a tool targeted towards the vulnerable that actually helps vulnerable people, a tool carefully targeted towards vulnerable Australians to help them better manage their income support and family assistance payments and to help people stabilise their lives.

We will not oppose the parts of the bill that abolish the matched savings and incentive payments. We are focused on supporting those who need it most. We also seek to be fiscally responsible, so we will oppose the cuts that will take much needed support away from vulnerable families. We will oppose the changes that take away the ability to identify those people that may need our support the most. This demonstrates that only Labor can be trusted to reform the income support system, so that it is fiscally responsible and can better support the nation's most vulnerable.

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