Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (COVID-19 Economic Response No. 2) Bill 2021. So many people across this country are suffering so much, and, sadly, so much of that could have been avoided had the Prime Minister and this government just done their job. People understand that we are fighting a virus, but when they hear 'We are all in this together' they expect the government to act accordingly. But when we've had my home state of Victoria going through long lockdowns as part of our bit to avoid the outbreak of a third wave, and we have other states, including New South Wales, suffering through that right now and Queensland enduring its lockdown, which we hope won't last for too long, people are entitled to look at the Prime Minister and ask: Why is it that these outbreaks, many of which have come out of the quarantine facilities that were his responsibility to ensure they stayed strong, are hitting still largely unvaccinated populations and are able to spread in a way that we thought we could get on top of? Why is it that we were promised vaccination targets by the Prime Minister that never got met? Why is it that this government put all its faith in big drug corporations and hoped that they would bump us up to a favourable place in the queue, only to find out that we didn't have enough of all of the kinds of vaccines that we need and that we didn't have the ability to make all of the kinds of the vaccines that we need right here in Australia? Then, when populations, when people, get locked down and lose their job, because we're having to respond to the virus with a still largely unvaccinated population—when the government's own failures have led to these lockdowns—the government has been unwilling to step in and support people through them. As a result, people are living through these lockdowns in poverty.

If there's one thing that we've learnt from the pandemic last year it's that insecure work and casualisation and trickle-down economics spread the virus, because if people are forced to make the choice, the terrible, terrible choice, between potentially getting some money to keep food on their table and to look after themselves versus staying at home and doing the right thing, people are going to be forced to make a choice that no-one should ever have to make. So if we not only want to do the best by the whole community to get on top of the virus but want to do right by every person and make sure they don't put their lives at risk, we have to ensure that people can live above the poverty line and have the ability to pay the bills. That is especially the case because this time around in many parts of the country people don't have the protections against evictions. They might not have mortgage freezes and pay freezes like they had last time. And the cost of living is not only still there; for many people it goes up during a pandemic, because you're having to order in and get things in that you previously might have been able to go out for. So, for many people, especially those who are already living hand-to-mouth, the costs go up during a pandemic.

Last time, part of the reason that we were able to get on top of this in the way that the Prime Minister boasts about is that people didn't have to live through the pandemic in poverty. And we saw for the first time jobseekers being able to live above the poverty line. The Prime Minister was caught short because, all of a sudden, when we saw those depression era dole queues along the street—including outside the Centrelink in my area of Abbotsford, a Centrelink that the government wanted to close down and we fought them and stopped them—when we saw those incredible scenes that we haven't seen since the depression, the government was pushed to look after people. The Greens were the first party in this place to call for a wage subsidy scheme. We also saw JobSeeker go above the poverty line. The reason that had to happen is that the government was caught out, because all of a sudden all of those people queuing up to get Centrelink payments were about to find out just how terribly the government have been treating unemployed people in this country for years. So they increased unemployment assistance to above the poverty line. For many, many people around this country, that meant that they could actually live a dignified life, often for the first time in years, and that they didn't have to skip essentials like food in order to make ends meet.

But now, this time around, people are back in poverty and people who are on JobSeeker are doing it on $43 a day. Instead of just reintroducing full JobKeeper and full JobSeeker, the government is trying to hide from its mistakes by doling out what it thinks is the minimum it can possibly get away with, even if it means people will still struggle to make ends meet during the course of this pandemic. For example, if you were someone who worked seven hours a week—you worked a shift to help make ends meet—and you did that week in, week out, the government's leaving you behind. They come and say, 'Let's pass another piece of legislation to allow us to put in place a new scheme,' and the Greens will be supporting this legislation, because it is right that the government puts in place some new methods of financial support. But, again, they're coming in here and asking us to take them on face value that this time they're not going to leave anyone behind. But, when you look at what they did last time, you just can't trust them on that. Last time, a million casual workers lost out. Last time universities saw thousands and thousands and thousands of university workers sacked. In the middle of a recession, the general wisdom is that the public sector expands and employs, but this government instead cut thousands of people who work at universities. That was on this government's watch. Again, we're seeing people who are going to be predominantly women and predominantly young people, who work a bit of work here and there to make ends meet, now finding themselves being left behind yet again.

So when the government says, 'Trust us; we are going to look after everyone,' well, no, you didn't last time. Even on the payments that you have announced today and in this legislation, you're again not going to do it this time. Bring back JobKeeper. Lift JobSeeker to above the poverty line. If there's one thing this pandemic has taught us, it's that we are leaving too many people behind. No-one should live in poverty. It's time the government took this opportunity to lift everyone above the poverty line, so that there is no poverty in this rich country.

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