Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to begin by congratulating the Minister for Social Services and the Minister for Human Services for the outstanding job they are doing in handling complex and difficult portfolio areas. Both ministers are thoughtful and considered people and policy makers. This could not be more important, given that the Department of Human Services    administers payments in the order of $154 billion a year, which represents one-third of our overall federal budget. The department touches the lives of 99 per cent of Australians through the delivery of health and welfare payments and services. Each year the department handles around 56 million phone calls and around 21 million face-to-face visits. It has processed 3.8 million social security and welfare claims in the past year and supported around 1.2 million children by working with separated parents to transfer child support moneys. It also looks after Australians during times of crisis, such as residents in my home state of South Australia during the Pinery bushfires.

When Robert Menzies founded the modern Liberal Party of Australia he was clear that helping those in need was one of the key responsibilities of government. Menzies said the supreme business of politics is:

The protection of the poor and the weak, and the elimination of the causes of poverty and weakness …

However, he was also clear that this should be achieved:

… without in any way ceasing to insist that the first duty of every man—

and woman—

is to do his utmost to stand on his own feet, to form his own judgments, and to accept his own responsibilities.

I am particularly heartened that both ministers are doing everything they can to help people stand on their own two feet. Indeed, this is the key focus of the Turnbull-Liberal government through the Australian Priority Investment Approach to Welfare. The information gathered will assist the government to identify and target groups most at risk of long-term welfare dependency. I understand the Australian Priority Investment Approach to Welfare has been modelled on a similar approach adopted in New Zealand, which has been very successful. I first heard of the excellent work in New Zealand through the Menzies Research Centre's Menzies monograph Quiet Achievers: the New Zealand Path to reform.I commend the centre's Executive Director, Nick Cater, for commissioning such an important piece of work. The New Zealand government determined that by breaking the welfare cycle for young people and single mothers they could not only save their nation billions of dollars but give these people pride in themselves and hope for their future and those of their families. Why did they do this? It was not just to save taxpayers billions of dollars but to save lives by giving people pride in themselves and the self-confidence that comes with having a job.

I do believe that the best form of welfare is a job. We, on this side of the House, have quite a job to do. We have to continue to fix the mess of the failed Rudd-Gillard-Rudd Labor governments that left us with a huge amount of debt.

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