Andrew Wilkie (Clark, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion moved by the member for North Sydney and commend the member for bringing this to the attention of the House. The member for North Sydney is absolutely correct that there is an urgent need to deal with this matter. I also agree with the member regarding the government's claim that the regular CPI adjustment of government pensions and payments is somehow a discretionary decision of the government. Frankly, it's treating the community like mugs and it is diminishing the government. We all know that the CPI adjustment of government pensions and payments is automatic. It will happen no matter who is the government. It's happened in the past. It's happening this week. It'll happen in the future. What the government should be focusing on is not claiming credit for the status quo but what it can do to change the status quo to ensure that the fabulous wealth of this country is spent in such a way that everyone in this country can live a dignified, healthy life.

We really have to turn our mind to the amount of money that is paid by Centrelink in government pensions and payments. It is clearly inadequate. We focus a lot on JobSeeker or unemployment benefits, as we should, but sometimes we focus on that at the expense of talking about other payments, like the age pension and the disability pension, which come straight to mind, because they are all fundamentally inadequate. Imagine being a single age pensioner paying market rent in any capital city in Australia—in particular in my home town of Hobart, which is the second least affordable capital city in the country. You can't pay $400 or $500 a week for your rent and then have anything at all left for your food, your power, your clothes, a little bit of entertainment, some travel and so on.

Just bear with me, because there are going to be some facts and figures here demonstrating this. The recent ACOSS report that the member for North Sydney has referred to, which was done in conjunction with the University of New South Wales, found that 60 per cent of people on the JobSeeker payment live in poverty, that 72 per cent of people on the parenting payment live in poverty, that 43 per cent of people on the disability support pension live in poverty and that 34 per cent of people on youth allowance live in poverty. This is just absolutely shameful. We're one of the richest countries on the planet. In fact, according to the most recent UBS survey of global wealth, median per capita wealth in Australia is second only to that of Belgium. There is no shortage of money. This financial year, the federal government's going to spend—wait for it—two-thirds of a trillion dollars. I'd better say that again to get our heads around that: this financial year, the federal government's going to spend, approximately, in the order of two-thirds of a trillion dollars. Yet we have people sleeping on the streets, people waiting years for surgery, people going without food and people going without medicine. Not only is this unacceptable; it's entirely avoidable.

It's all about our priorities as a nation. Surely one of the first ways in which we should think of spending our fabulous wealth is to ensure that every person, including older Australians, people with a disability and people who are unemployed—the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people—has enough income support to live a healthy, happy, dignified life. They should have a roof over their head. They should have enough money in their income support payments to pay the rent. If that means increasing Commonwealth rent assistance, let's do it. Let's spend a little bit of that two-thirds of a trillion dollars differently so that we don't have this shocking gap between the advantaged and the disadvantaged in this country, a gap that is getting wider and wider. For those of us who are lucky enough to own a house, we and our kids will be fine, but for the people who aren't as fortunate as us, the people who are living on government income support, let's spend some of that money so that they can live much better. It's all about priorities.

By the way, this isn't just the members for North Sydney and Clark having a spray. What we're talking about is supported by ACOSS, by the unions, by the Business Council, by the Australian Investment Council and by Deloitte, of all people. Everyone thinks we should do it. It's just a case of the government getting its priorities right.

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