Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I don't really wish to get into a tit-for-tat argument with those opposite about which political party can claim the legacy of social security in our country—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 12:03 to 12:19

I know that Australians don't really want or need a history lesson from those opposite; they want the planning and they want the action that this government—the Morrison government—has delivered throughout these most uncertain times. The truth, of course, is that Australia's social security system has served us very well. Prior to this crisis we saw the proportion of working-age Australians who were reliant on payments down to its lowest level in more than 30 years, at 13.5 per cent. But what I will say as a preamble to my contribution on this motion is that it was in fact under Menzies that the first child endowment payment was delivered, in 1941. It saw the establishment of a national government-provided social security system. Unemployment, sickness benefits, and the widow's pensions by Labor governments all followed that.

When coronavirus hit, Moncrieff had about 5,900 individuals on Centrelink payments. The number very quickly went up to over 15,000 individuals, who had enhanced social security through the coronavirus supplement payment at that time. It was a life-saver for so many in the community. Of course, it was the combination of the JobSeeker coronavirus supplement and JobKeeper 1 and 2 that kept the doors open for over 10,000 small businesses on the central Gold Coast—that is, one-third of all small businesses in my electorate—which in turn helped thousands of families to get through those tough early days of the pandemic.

Australia, indeed, has one of the best, if not the best, safety nets for our citizens, better than in any other country around the world. That has been highlighted during the last 19 or so months of the global pandemic, with the provision of two million working-age payments, including the JobSeeker payment, the parenting payment and the student payment, to recipients. Twenty billion dollars, or $9,400 per recipient, was paid to enhance the social security net for those Australians who needed it.

In addition, we've delivered the largest increase to unemployment benefits since 1986. Since 1 April 2021, the Morrison government has permanently increased the rate of working-age payments, including the JobSeeker payment, youth allowance and the parenting payment, by $50 a fortnight. That's in addition to the usual indexation of payments that occurred in March 2021 and September 2021. This increase comes at a cost to the Australian taxpayer of $9.5 billion, and we must respect that these payments are as a result of taxes coming from those who work to support those who do not or cannot. Throughout the pandemic, at its height, we've provided $32 billion in emergency support payments. On top of that, we've made four economic support payments, totalling $2,000, to around 5.1 million age pensioners and disability pensioners—including my dear old dad, I might say—carer payment recipients, family payment recipients and veterans payment recipients over the course of 2021. This came at a cost to the taxpayer of over $12 billion.

The government has also put in place a range of supports to ensure all Australians have a safety net to get them through the lockdowns, be it through the disaster payment, the pandemic leave payment or the income support payments provided to Australians on a regular and ongoing basis. In addition, there is support through the crisis payment for national health emergency for those who are required to self-isolate, or care for someone who is required to self-isolate, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The history books will show that no government in the last 30 years—not Rudd, not Gillard, not Keating—has done more for Australians doing it tough than the Morrison government has.

In terms of what members opposite are saying about the diminishing number of shopfronts, there are 319 customer-facing sites delivering services to the Australian community. Services Australia operates 398 commercial properties in every state and territory in the country. There is increased uptake of online services via myGov and the Express Plus mobile app. Over the past six years there has been a 43 per cent decrease in customers visiting service centres. In my mind, if I were a customer of Centrelink, I would like to be able to access Centrelink payments in a number of ways. Some of them are via a shopfront, some of them are digital, and that is enhancing our modern nation. (Time expired)

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