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

I thank the member for Adelaide for that question. Yesterday, the government plan to strengthen the safety net passed the parliament. Our plan will deliver cost-of-living support for around 800,000 people on JobSeeker, 230,000 people on Youth Allowance and 1.1 million households who receive Rent Assistance, with more support for 57,000 single parents. These were well-calibrated, responsible changes that provided support without adding to inflation.

With the passage of our safety net bill yesterday, additional support and help to those doing it toughest will flow from 20 September. This was widely welcomed across the spectrum, with the Australian Council of Social Service calling this bill 'a step in the right direction' after years of decline and neglect. Of course, you don't need to think too far about where these years of decline and neglect happened—it was under those opposite. This was further demonstrated by the mean-spirited amendment to the bill yesterday that scrapped the $40 increase for JobSeeker. If that amendment had been successful, it would have denied much-needed relief to around one million Australians.

Yesterday, Senator Ruston sang from the same old Liberal song sheet during the debate, saying that this increase to working payments would only incentivise welfare. We don't have to think too far back to her also-infamous comments in 2019, where she said increases to unemployment benefits would end up giving drug dealers and pubs more money. That is the attitude of those opposite. It's hardly surprising that those opposite are also the party of robodebt. Commissioner Holmes, when talking about the robodebt scheme, said it was remarkable how little thought was given to how it would impact welfare recipients. The Liberal Party robodebt scheme caused suffering to more than 430,000 people.

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