Daniel Mulino (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

There are some motions where you read through and do a bit of a double-take on some elements of them. I must say that in this place we're used to self-congratulatory motions from those opposite on their time in government. There's no time for any self reflection or introspection after the last election loss; it's all motion after motion saying how amazing it was. Times were never better, apparently! But this one takes the cake. Apparently, Services Australia and service delivery were 'seamless, simple and safe' during their decade in power. It just occurred to me: was it seamless, simple and safe when 3,800 frontline staff were being gutted from Services Australia? Was it seamless, simple and safe when people were being subjected to robodebt letters and all the unnecessary stress and illegality of that?

I want to read one paragraph from the robodebt royal commission to see whether they found that, under the previous government, these kinds of operations were seamless, simple and safe. The royal commission found:

Robodebt was a crude and cruel mechanism, neither fair nor legal, and it made many people feel like criminals. In essence, people were traumatised on the off-chance they might owe money.

But, as we know, so many people who were sent those traumatising letters weren't in a position where they owed money. This is the situation that we saw under the previous government.

It took a royal commission that this government instituted to uncover so much of that, and then those opposite come into this place with a self-congratulatory motion to say how wonderful things were. How absolutely ridiculous! In terms of putting some of the services that this government is providing into context and some of the investments that this government is making into Services Australia, I want to make a few additional observations—in addition to observing how ridiculous the motion is.

Firstly, as previous speakers on this side have indicated, there are many areas where Services Australia's workload has increased substantially, which is a reflection of the fact that there are many people receiving benefits who previously weren't and many areas of the operation of government where people are getting assistance because they're doing it tough in the current environment, where there are cost-of-living pressures being put on the economy through external international pressures. For example, the agency has received over 80,000 more family claims as at 16 November 2023 compared to the same period in 2022. There have also been changes to the eligibility for parenting payment single that came into effect on 20 September, which resulted in over 65,000 customers transitioning from JobSeeker payments and Youth Allowance to parenting payments on 6 October. There are others. For example, from 4 September, a mailout of 1.4 million rent statements occurred advising customers of changed entitlements or action needed following increases to rent assistance—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 12:36 to 12:47

As I was indicating, the work of Services Australia has increased substantially as a result of a number of the measures that this government has put in place to support those who are most vulnerable when it comes to those cost-of-living pressures that are being experienced and that have been imposed on our economy by international, external forces. I also want to make the point that this government is putting on significant extra staff, investing in Services Australia and reversing some of the staff cuts that we saw under the previous government.

I want to add that Services Australia has done so much in recent times when it comes to providing support for those experiencing hardship as a result of natural disasters. In 2023-24, this government invested a significant amount—over $230 million—to establish a cost-effective emergency capability. I saw this firsthand in my own electorate in the suburb of Maribyrnong and some surrounding suburbs when people were affected by floods in 2022. I saw that people were able to access the Services Australia portal that was put up by that government department and access emergency payments very, very quickly—within just an hour or two of submitting their application. This showed me how important it is for those people in the absolute most dire need that our IT services and that our staff are there. Services Australia also had staff on deck in that suburb to provide people with face-to-face advice. So Services Australia does an amazing job, and this government is investing in it so that it can do even more after 10 years of being gutted. (Time expired)

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