Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

I'm going to take this opportunity to respond to some of the questions I've been asked in the social services portfolio. Firstly, I'll go to the cashless debit card. The minister used a lot of emotion—as happens in this debate—but, of course, not a lot of evidence. The fundamental part of his question was: where is the money in the budget going? He should know. The budget under the previous government had all the support services and cashless debit card sites. There were things like the youth mentoring program, the parent education support program, including life skills development, the home budgeting skills in Wyndham, the community navigator programs, and financial literacy and digital literacy. The funding ended for all of these programs on 1 July 2023. The former government had not put the services the communities wanted in the budget. So this budget gives some security to those really important community run services. He asked, 'What consultation?' That was the message that I got clearly from communities. They want programs that work, programs that have runs on the board, programs that make a difference. They are the programs we are investing in and ensuring continue to get the funding that was not put in the budget by the previous minister.

I thank the member for Boothby for highlighting some of the really important areas in this budget. The member for Boothby highlighted that this budget was a family-friendly budget, particularly in the area of social services, whether it was our paid parental leave or whether it was recognising that playgroups and toy libraries are so important. One of the really nice elements that will be happening in the playgroups is that the intergenerational playgroups that will be re-established to ensure that older Australians are connected with our youngest Australians and that those really wonderful opportunities are made. Our paid parental leave and Early Years Strategy are really a blueprint of how our government can be both family and child friendly and put children in the centre.

We got a very, very interesting question about the work bonus. There was chest thumping and, 'Why didn't you do this in June?' The election was 21 May! You'd think if this work bonus was such a great idea, the former government would have put it in their budget in March. They had the opportunity to lay this out in March—in fact, they had nine years to lay it out—and chose not to do it. They hadn't drafted any legislation and they hadn't done any costings. They used it as a political grandstanding opportunity. Well, we're doing things methodically and consistently. It's been six months and we've got runs on the board, including this seniors work bonus boost to their income. This pensioners boost went through the parliament and will start on 1 December. I hope the shadow minister and everyone else will be promoting this opportunity to seniors because pensioners are really important. This adds to our many other initiatives. Senior Australians have been ringing me, so excited that they are now eligible the seniors health card, a measure we were able to deliver.

I would also like to thank the member for Gilmore for speaking around the really good investment that we are making in family and domestic violence, which I'll finish on. Family, domestic and sexual violence are a scourge on this country. We need to do better and we need to invest in the things that work. I'm very proud of a government that is making a record investment. We have launched the national plan, which provides a blueprint for states, territories and the Commonwealth to be pulling in the same direction. It is critically important to making sure that we shift the dial, and we are determined to end this in one generation.

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