Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Western Australia) Share this | Hansard source

This bill does not lift people out of poverty; it simply makes them less poor. Proper poverty elimination must be one of the most important things that we do in this place, for Australians at home and for those who live in poverty abroad. We are a rich, successful multicultural country, but we do leave too many people behind.

When we look at the government, we see that they don't have a plan for the many layered challenge of lifting people out of poverty. This is the government that froze the Medicare rebate. This is the government that has no plan to grow the stock of social housing. This is the government that killed the Gonski reforms, which we know were key to lifting people out of intergenerational poverty. They starved our universities of JobKeeper. And, from what we've seen so far, it looks like the aged-care royal commission will go the same way as the banking royal commission. They hate investing in public services and have done nothing to lower the cost of public transport, despite having been in office for more than seven years. And, in the middle of a pandemic, when I asked the government if they could guarantee that the Morley Centrelink in my electorate would stay open—the Centrelink that thousands and thousands of people go to to access and apply for JobSeeker—I couldn't even get that guarantee.

There is no doubt that we do need a more comprehensive review of how we deal with poverty elimination in this country. Yesterday the member for Canberra said that we need to do a more comprehensive review, rather than just throwing a few dollars around, and I think that is definitely the way to go. I say to the 1.95 million Australians who rely on these payments: Labor is on your side. Reducing poverty will be made a priority in every budget of an Albanese Labor government. We are still in the middle of a pandemic, and we don't know what happens next. Of course, the government must keep all options on the table, including ongoing COVID supplements, to deal with what is thrown at our economy in the weeks and months ahead.

We also need to recognise that it's not only the amount that we give people that is important but also their ability to access these funds. That means quality Centrelink services, secure jobs for the people who work at Centrelink and proper resources so that the call centre waiting times don't blow out, as we've experienced in the last 12 months. We need to make sure that the physical shopfronts for Centrelink continue to be there, because that is the preferred method of interaction with government services for many, many people. We also need to acknowledge that, while we might be providing a very small increase for those on JobSeeker, this government has overseen some huge increases in the cost of living. We know the devastating impact of the government's failure on energy policy and energy prices. We've seen increases in childcare fees. There was a 5.6 per cent increase in childcare fees last year, and the fees are projected to increase 4.1 per cent for each of the next four years. In fact, since it was elected in 2013, this government's record is a 35.6 per cent increase in childcare fees. We know that they froze the Medicare rebate. This government also has a unique ability to refuse to accept when it gets it wrong, as we saw with the embarrassing robodebt saga, which this government pretended didn't exist.

I will end my remarks by referring to one of the many pieces of correspondence I've received from constituents in the Perth electorate, urging this place to do more when it comes to JobSeeker. I won't name the constituent. She writes: 'I'm a sole parent without another adult to help support and raise my amazing child. JobSeeker puts us in poverty, not just me but my child. Poverty is exhausting. Nobody wants to be on JobSeeker. Do you know how stressful it is being so broke, let alone managing life?' I think the reality is that, for many of us in this place, we are fortunate to not know how stressful that is, but that doesn't in any way absolve us of the responsibility to do a lot more to lift our fellow Australians out of poverty.

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