Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Coronavirus and Other Measures) Bill 2020. I move the amendment circulated in my name:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House:

(1) notes that:

(a) since the start of the recession, the number of people relying on unemployment payments has doubled;

(b) many pensioners—including those on the Age Pension, Disability Support Pension and Carer Payment—have faced increased costs during the pandemic; and

(c) the Minister has the power under the Social Security Act to extend the Coronavirus Supplement; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) extend the $250 per fortnight Coronavirus Supplement until March, in line with Jobkeeper;

(b) better support pensioners—including Age Pension, Disability Support Pension and Carer Payment recipients—facing increased costs in protecting their health because of the coronavirus pandemic; and

(c) announce a permanent increase to the base rate of the Jobseeker Payment".

I'd like to read the amendment into the Hansard because it is extremely important to this side of the House. I have moved that all words after 'that' be omitted with a view to substituting the following words: 'whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House (1) notes that, (a) since the start of the recession, the number of people relying on unemployment payments has doubled, (b) many pensioners—including those on the age pension, disability support pension and carer payment—have faced increased costs during the pandemic, and (c) the minister has the power under the Social Security Act to extend the coronavirus supplement; and (2) calls on the government to (a) extend the $250 per fortnight coronavirus supplement until March, in line with JobKeeper, (b) better support pensioners—including age pension, disability support pension and carer payment recipients—facing increased costs in protecting their health because of the coronavirus pandemic, and (c) announce a permanent increase to the base rate of the Jobseeker payment'. That is the amendment circulated in my name.

I'd like to also point out to the House that there are 18 Labor people speaking on this bill, and also someone from the crossbench—compared to four from the government—because this is something that we consider to be absolutely important and it is consistent with what Labor have been saying for months and months, particularly about a permanent increase to the base rate of JobSeeker. I advise the House that in estimates this morning the government refused once again to agree that there needs to be a permanent rate of JobSeeker, and they are busily backpedalling on that right now.

This bill seeks to implement a number of coronavirus support measures from the budget—measures which Labor has called for for many, many months. Labor has long called for greater support for pensioners, who were left behind by this government when it enacted its cruel and disrespectful pension freeze just a few weeks ago. For months, Labor has called on the government to adjust the work test to ensure parents who are impacted by the coronavirus recession who lost hours of work or lost work would not miss out on paid parental leave. At the height of the pandemic, we asked the government to adjust means-testing for youth allowance so students would not fall through the cracks.

The supports for families who lose a child to stillbirth before the child's first birthday will be welcomed by many of my colleagues in this place who have been brave and tireless advocates in that regard. Losing a child is a devastating and heartbreaking experience, and we commend the government for finally coming around to enacting these important supports, but I do once again put on the record that it is something Labor has advocated for a very long time.

Nevertheless, the government's budget has left too many Australians behind. There is no certainty for the 1.6 million Australians on JobSeeker as to what support will be available after 31 December. There still has been no announcement about that. There is absolutely no reason why the government couldn't have addressed that issue in the budget statement just a couple of weeks ago. There was a deafening silence about this group of people. We are talking about 1.6 million people, the most vulnerable people in our community, who still don't know what their future holds after 31 December. We'll have to wait, obviously, to find out about that. It is certainly not addressing a permanent increase to the JobSeeker payment, which everyone agrees with, including a number of people on that side of the House and the former Prime Minister of Australia John Howard.

Almost one million Australians on JobSeeker are ineligible for the government's wage hire subsidy, and those who receive the pension, disability support pension or carer payment continue to face increasing costs in protecting their health because of the coronavirus pandemic. There has been much media commentary on this: additional costs for masks, additional costs for doctors' appointments, additional costs with psychiatrists' appointments and additional costs in just trying to keep safe. Many people, particularly those people on the age pension and the disability support pension, face compromised immune systems and many other issues that make them more vulnerable to coronavirus. I'm sure all my colleagues would agree with this question: what happens to people who are carers, who are making sure they're keeping their loved ones safe, many of them without any recognition for it? Those who receive these pensions—the disability support pension or the carer payment—should not have to face increasing costs. Our amendment calls for them to be compensated and reimbursed for those costs.

Pensioners have been facing rising health, dental, energy and grocery bills for years. Average GP out-of-pocket costs alone have gone up $11 under this government. Labor will be moving detailed amendments to better support Australians who are unemployed or who have endured extra costs because of the coronavirus pandemic. I read Labor's second reading amendment into the Hansard, but let me expand on it. Extending the coronavirus supplement is absolutely fundamental. Our amendment will create an obligation on the minister to extend the $250 per fortnight coronavirus supplement until March, in line with JobKeeper. It makes absolutely no sense to Labor that those on JobSeeker should not have the same respect shown to them and the same certainty as those people who have to rely on JobKeeper. It is $250 a fortnight but, once again, the people who are on JobSeeker, the 1.6 million people I spoke about earlier, have absolutely no certainty as to their future after 31 December. It must be terrifying for those people, who are just making ends meet as it is, and sometimes not actually doing that. Many of these people have absolutely no reserves to fall back on.

I'm just incredulous that the government, in particular the Treasurer and the Minister for Families and Social Services, have not recognised or taken up the responsibility they should feel for giving 1.6 million Australians some sort of certainty. How can we, as a society, hold our heads up if there is not that certainty for the most vulnerable? We're not talking about people who are sitting on the lounge and collecting money, as the government has briefed the media. We're talking about single mums. We're talking about women in their 50s and 60s who are renting. We are talking about people who are really struggling and know where every single cent goes. They are not bludgers. They are not sitting back and allowing the state to look after their affairs. They desperately want work and the least that we can owe them, the least that we can give them, is some sort of certainty after Christmas. That does not exist now. As I said, we are having estimates at the moment and there is a refusal to commit to anything. There is a refusal to actually say, 'This is what we're considering.' The idea that these people have to wait for the next statement for the Treasurer in the mid-year budget update is just outrageous. And who knows if there will be any certainty given in that? Who knows if it's not just an extension of temporary money?

There is no argument that people cannot live on $40 a day, yet that is the prospect that 1.6 million Australians have come 31 December. So Labor will be moving detailed amendments to better support Australians who are unemployed or who have endured extra costs because of coronavirus. Our members will create an obligation on the minister, as I said, to extend the $250 per fortnight coronavirus supplement until March, in line with JobKeeper. The coronavirus supplement is scheduled to end in December. With 1.6 million Australians currently on JobSeeker and a further 160,000 Australians expected to lose their jobs between now and the end of the year—it's not their fault, but that is the projection—now is not the time to be withdrawing support from Australians who are finding it extremely difficult to keep their heads above water. We should be recognising that. We should be acknowledging that and we should also be acknowledging that, for those people who will lose their jobs between now and Christmas, it is not because they want to be unemployed; it is because of the circumstances that the world finds itself in.

It is going to be an anxious and uncertain Christmas for so many people who are on JobSeeker, and it's cruel of the government not to give some clarity. You cannot tell me that there isn't some sort of understanding of what the government is planning to do. I just don't believe that. And the fact that there is a denial by this government to put some clarity around that issue is, as I said, cruel. It makes people anxious and it is unreasonable. It is completely unreasonable to make people wait until mid-December before there is a decision announced on the JobSeeker payment. Until then, Australians on JobSeeker won't be able to plan their finances around major expenses such as rent, gas, electricity bills and—actually—food and medical care. As I said, many of these people are young. Many of these people are single parents, and there are children involved. There are children involved who are relegated to poverty, relegated to the stresses that their parents must be feeling, because this government refuses to provide any certainty. I just don't understand that cruelty. I don't understand why the government can't clarify things and why they haven't taken the opportunity to do that. As I said, you cannot tell me that there isn't some sort of plan. The answer that the Prime Minister gave in question time yesterday told us very clearly that there is a plan, but he refuses to say what it is.

Labor's amendments will create an obligation on the minister to better support pensioners, including age pensioners, people on the disability support pension and carer payment recipients. Unlike the government, Labor acknowledges that older Australians, people with a disability and carers have experienced increased costs as a result of coronavirus, but surely it is not beyond the government's imagination or capacity to look at this as a real issue, to acknowledge it as a real issue and to make sure that people on those pensions are not out of pocket because of those additional costs. Please don't give me the argument that there are payments coming their way. Two lots of $250 does not make up for the additional expenses experienced by the groups of people I am talking about. In particular, they have seen increased costs in protecting their health during this pandemic. The terrifying prospect that these people face every day is that if they contract the coronavirus the outcomes will be dreadful for them because of their compromised immune systems, their age or their disability, and because the carers in particular are coming into contact with people in these groups.

So there is capacity for the minister, with the powers that she has been given, to create an obligation on the minister to better support these people. Labor acknowledges that older Australians, people with a disability, and carers have experienced increased costs. Cruelly, the government froze the pension in September. Those receiving an age pension, a disability support pension or a carer payment were affected by the fact that the government refused to think about indexation. In fact, according to the Prime Minister, he didn't realise it, which of course is not conceivable.

Labor's amendments will require the minister to announce a permanent increase to the base rate of JobSeeker payment. JobSeeker is scheduled to return to its old base rate at the end of December. It is clear to everyone that it can't go back. The Prime Minister's comments in question time yesterday acknowledged that. 'This will be a little comfort to people on JobSeeker,' was his answer. People on JobSeeker deserve to know what level of support will be available to them beyond 31 December. To make them endure an anxious wait is cruel, unreasonable and also unnecessary. Household budgeting for food, rent and bills is something these people spend a lot of time doing every week. The government could provide certainty by delivering a permanent increase to JobSeeker, which Labor has consistently advocated for. Some members of the government are also calling for that payment to be permanently increased. At least they're being honest. Since the rate of JobSeeker was temporarily boosted, Australians on JobSeeker and their children have been lifted out of hardship, and they've had more to spend on local and small businesses. They've been able to buy food, pay bills and meet their rent. In the wake of this pandemic, the budget was an opportunity to deliver lasting structural change for vulnerable Australians, while boosting local businesses and local jobs, but that economic as well as social opportunity was missed.

Labor is concerned about the Morrison government's plan to return JobSeeker to its old base rate of $40 a day in December with 160,000 Australians expected to lose their job and 1.6 million Australians on JobSeeker at the moment. We know that the government continues to try to demonise those who have lost their jobs. It's just despicable. Implying somehow that these people are unemployed because of choice is just wrong. There is still a plan before the parliament to drug test welfare recipients. It has been foreshadowing a national rollout of the cashless debit card. With more jobseekers than job vacancies, there are simply not enough jobs for everyone who needs one. It's even more difficult to find a job in our regions—the result of the government's failure to deliver jobs programs for our regions. Australians are finding this a very anxious time, with an uncertain Christmas. There are many Australians who will be wondering what level of support will be available to them after December. Many are worried about how they will afford essentials, cover rent or pay the bills, let alone buy Christmas presents for the children.

We know that there are many people in our nation on unemployment payments who are spending those payments at local businesses, which, of course, is an economic measure. Social security payments play a vital role in sustaining local jobs, especially in times like these and especially in some communities. Australians on social security will have less to spend in those small businesses. And small businesses will have less to spend on wages and jobs. How many jobs will be lost when JobKeeper is cut in December? Labor has sought this information from the government, but the government either doesn't know or doesn't want to know.

The budget left behind Australians on JobSeeker aged over 35—almost one million Australians—by excluding them from the wage hire subsidy, and older Australians represent the largest cohort on JobSeeker. They also have the most difficulty finding work because of structural barriers and age discrimination. The government needs to permanently increase the base rate of JobSeeker payment. Women and young people have been disproportionately impacted by the unemployment crisis brought on by the pandemic.

The government was caught out on Labor on the pension freeze for 2.5 million pensioners, and that's the only reason why they acted on it. Labor fought the government's disrespectful and cruel pension freeze. The reality is that pensioners plan for their twice-yearly indexation, one in March and the other in September. The government was caught out on their pension freeze in August. The freeze took effect in September. They made pensioners wait for the October budget before announcing any kind of relief. The government has a long track record in cutting and attempting to cut the pension. They still haven't adjusted deeming rates, which remain significantly higher than interest rates. Pensioners won't forget the government's record on cutting the pension. They will not forget the fact that deeming rates are still not equitable.

The Liberals and Nationals are obsessed with cutting the pension, attempting to cut the pension in every budget, every year. That has been well documented by me and others. We know that in 2014 they tried to cut the pension indexation. In the same budget, that horror budget, they cut $1 billion from pensioner concessions. In their same horror budget, they axed the $900 senior supplement for self-funded retirees receiving the Commonwealth seniors health card. In that same budget they tried to reset deeming rate thresholds, a cut that would have seen half a million part-pensioners made worse off. In 2015 they did a deal with the Greens to cut the pension to around 370 pensioners by as much as $12,000 a year. In 2016 they tried to cut the pension to around 190 pensioners as part of a plan to limit overseas travel for pensioners to six weeks. In 2016 they tried to cut the pension to over 1.5 million Australians by scrapping the energy supplement. The government's own figures show this would have left over 563,000 Australians currently receiving this allowance much worse off. Over 10 years in excess of 1.5 million pensioners would have been worse off. They spent many years trying to get the pension age to be 70. Pensioners have paid their taxes and contributed their entire lives. They deserve our respect and the respect of this government.

This bill is adjusting how someone qualifies for paid parental leave. To be eligible a person must satisfy a work test. The existing work test requires a person to have worked 10 out of 13 months prior to the birth or adoption of a child and at least 330 hours in that 10-month period. During the pandemic the concern was that families would miss out on PPL because of job losses or having their hours reduced, making them ineligible for PPL, leaving them up to $15,000 worse off. Labor called for the government to temporarily suspend the work test in April so families would not miss out. I even wrote to the minister for social services. And in June we moved amendments in the Senate for the work test to be suspended but the Morrison government voted it down. Families need certainty about their access to paid parental leave during these challenging times.

This bill will also temporarily amend circumstances in which a person may be regarded as independent for youth allowance. In May Labor called on the government to provide case-by-case exemptions to youth allowance parental incomes tests. We were concerned that tertiary students would miss out on youth allowance and would be unable to afford to continue their studies. These are not ordinary times. What we don't want to see is students discounting tertiary studies because they can't afford it. It is disappointing that government has taken so long to act on these issues. It's been too long an anxious period for students.

In conclusion, Labor support the measures outlined in this bill, measures that Labor has been advocating for from the very outset of the pandemic. It is just seven weeks until Christmas and people relying on the coronavirus supplement need certainty, not cruel cuts and not a deafening silence, which is what we are hearing at this point in time. That is why Labor is moving amendments to extend the coronavirus supplement until March, in line with JobKeeper—not an unreasonable ask. I know that there are many people on that side of the House that also believe it is not unreasonable. At least in line with JobKeeper and require the government to announce a permanent increase to the JobSeeker payment. This is something that we have been advocating for for a very long time. The government has an opportunity to fix these things. These amendments are serious amendments. They are amendments to provide certainty, to provide comfort, to those 1.6 million people on JobSeeker. It's doing something that the government is going to have to do anyhow, kicking and screaming, to increase the permanent rate of JobSeeker. This is not the end of this discussion so don't think it is. This issue will continue. It will continue because it is in the interest of the economy, 1.6 million Australians, 2.5 million Australians on the age pension, over 700,000 Australian on the disability support pension and many, many thousands of people on the carer payment. Those people have provided an enormous amount to this country. In some cases aged pensioners have provided a lifetime of commitment, a lifetime of service, a lifetime of paying taxes. Surely we as a parliament can remember that and we as a parliament can do the right thing by those people. That is what my amendments are seeking to do: the right thing. It is as simple as that: the right thing.

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