Kylea Tink (North Sydney, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

According to Cassandra Goldie, the CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service, it's not right that in Australia, one of the wealthiest countries in the world, vulnerable people are going without the help they desperately need. As I rise to speak to the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (More Support in the Safety Net) Bill 2024 I do so with the full confidence that my electorate of North Sydney could not agree more with Dr Goldie. It's shocking to reflect on the fact that right now in Australia more than three million people are living below the poverty line. That's one in every 10 Australians.

Even more shocking is that a huge portion of these people are there because they're trying to survive on the paltry social service payments our federal government currently offers. I acknowledge that this is not a circumstance that has been created by our current government; rather, it is the consequence of a decade of dismissal, disrespect and minimisation. I was devastated to hear the commentary that aired on Sunday night on Channel 7, during their Spotlight program, when a young Australian who is dedicated to poverty reduction whilst living on a disability pension herself reported that one in three of the people who took their own lives last year were on some form of social security payment. How can that be possible in this the luckiest of countries?

When I looked further, I found the following. As of April 2024, over 800,000 people were on JobSeeker in Australia. Many of these will have been among the 1.3 million households who were receiving Commonwealth rent assistance in April 2022. They may also have been among the 60,000 people who were receiving private rental assistance from a state or territory government. This is not one group or type of person. Those who currently access these payments can be as young as 16 or as mature as 65. Seventeen per cent of First Nations people over the age of 15 are currently accessing these payments, compared to 3.4 per cent of other Australians. Meanwhile, people aged 16 and over living in remote areas are five times more likely to be receiving unemployment payments as those living in major cities.

So what are these people actually receiving? Well, a single person with no children on full JobSeeker will receive $762.70 per fortnight, while a single person with a dependent child or children will receive $816.90. That's the same amount that someone who is single, over 55 and has nine months of continuous payments will receive, while those who are partnered receive $698.30 per fortnight. Meanwhile, data from CoreLogic released in April 2024 shows that national median advertised market rents are at a record high level, costing $627 per week. This cost has grown at a rate of 9.1 per cent a year over the past three years.

Running those numbers, you don't need to be an actuary to know that a considerable number of these people must be living hand-to-mouth, with severe housing stress. While most Australians are struggling through a cost-of-living crisis right now, we must recognise that there is an ocean of need. While this government is at least doing something, the truth is that the something is the equivalent to stirring a teaspoon of sugar into it.

The Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (More Support in the Safety Net) Bill 2024 does add more support to the social safety net, but the net remains riddled with holes. While the bill delivers minor positive investment, all in all it has missed the opportunity to address the deepest, fundamental societal challenges. The government itself has identified that Australians are facing a set of serious and compounding challenges, including a slowing economy, rising unemployment, falling spending power, a housing crisis and a climate crisis. The Intergenerational report released last year shone a light on the barriers to economic inclusion and participation in Australia for underrepresented and historically disadvantaged groups. These include women, who continue to face barriers to finding a job or working the hours they would prefer, with a key barrier being unpaid work and caring responsibilities, particularly for those with younger children.

Under the measures being introduced, just 4,700 Australians will be eligible for the higher rate of JobSeeker payment—4,700 Australians from a pool that currently contains 1.3 million people. Others will receive the rental assistance increase, which is offered at a rate of 25 per cent, adding the last two years together, in a market that has grown 27 per cent in three years. Yet others will explore the flexibility for carer payment recipients. But, ultimately, people on the lowest incomes in our country expected and deserved more from this budget. In the words of the Australian Council of Social Service, this budget 'has a hole in its heart'. It's not enough for the 100,000 Australians who remain homeless on any given night, the single mother who stays in a violent home because the alternative is poverty, people with a disability who are struggling to gain employment, or the carers for young children who are facing barriers re-entering the workforce. The budget is about choice, and the government has chosen to not go further when it comes to lifting Australians out of poverty. I stand with sector stakeholders in calling for meaningful investment to prioritise the needs of vulnerable Australians and address the inadequacy of our social support payments.

Looking deeper into the bill, the Commonwealth rent assistance increase, due to be implemented from 20 September this year, provides an additional nominal support for nearly a million recipient households, yet the real rate of this payment will arguably not make a dent in the rapidly increasing rental prices. In true dollar terms, these households will receive an increase of up to $18.80 for a single person or up to $25.06 per fortnight for families, depending on the household type. That extra $25 per fortnight for families is in a market where, in my seat of North Sydney, the rental property I recently vacated with my children was offered to the incoming family at a whopping $200 more per week than I had paid. Indeed, in my electorate of North Sydney the average weekly rent has risen 17½ per cent, to $700, with houses renting at $1,200 a week. This level of rent is simply unachievable for everyday Australians, let alone those reliant on social service payments for support, and far too many people will still be without affordable homes after this budget.

For some time, housing and welfare experts have been calling for changes to be made to the Commonwealth rent assistance payments, and the Productivity Commission itself recently recommended the government review Commonwealth rent assistance as a priority. They argued that there's a strong case for changes to improve its adequacy and targeting. But there is no improvement to adequacy or targeting in the measures included in this bill. Meanwhile, ACOSS offers the following:

The modest Commonwealth Rent Assistance increase builds on last year's rise, giving a single person an extra $9.40 a week if they're receiving the maximum rate. Based on median rents, private renters receiving JobSeeker or Youth Allowance will still be in deep housing stress because their base rate of payment is so low. Even with the increase, they will be paying half of their income in rent alone.

Bringing this into the real world, then, someone in North Sydney recently shared with me that: 'The present housing crisis places me, like hundreds of thousands of Australians, at imminent risk of homelessness at the age of 73.' This person is a lifetime resident. They've had a successful career, carried their weight, contributed to our society and paid their taxes. They should never be in a vulnerable position like this, a position that a 10 per cent rise in Commonwealth rental assistance is unlikely to address.

Ultimately, while I wish I could say otherwise, the government has failed to take the bold action required to address the housing crisis, effectively maintaining current inadequate funding levels for the national agreement for another five years when there is huge demand for social housing. It is a huge concern that this budget did not include any new funding for social housing. In the words of Everybody's Home, a national campaign to fix this housing crisis:

What the government has announced is a business as usual spend that is nowhere near enough to shift the dial on the housing crisis …

The government's 'new' funding for social housing is a repackaging of existing initiatives, offering loans instead of providing real funding, and the continuation of a funding agreement with the states and territories—something the Commonwealth routinely renews for other essential services like education and health.

The safety net is simply not being spread anywhere near wide enough to support those on income support payments.

It's a concern that Commonwealth rent assistance is only available to people in receipt of income support or an amount of family tax benefit over the base rate of family tax benefit part A and not to other people on low incomes who are renting privately. Meanwhile, high rents and unaffordable housing are driving essential workers out of the North Sydney electorate. When I met with midwives at a significant hospital in my area recently, I learnt that staff shortages are exacerbated by staff moving away to find more affordable rentals. The desperation felt by Australians, both young and old, in the current environment is something I feel very deeply.

Finally, the fact that the maximum rate of this payment has been indexed to CPI rather than the average rents paid by Commonwealth rent assistance recipients is frustrating and makes no sense to me. Increases in rents are outstripping general inflation in many areas of Australia. This is a systematic issue in need of serious attention. Earlier this year, I moved a motion that asked the House to take note of the fact that the routine CPI indexation that took effect lifted JobSeeker payments by just 96c per day. This indexation lifted JobSeeker payments to $55 a day, which equates to less than half the full-time minimum wage. The government's media release at the time announced these changes as 'Indexation puts more in the pockets of millions of Australians'. Yet it failed to acknowledge that income support payments are not enough to cover the cost of essential goods and services, including housing, food and energy. Devastatingly, I see similar headlines when it comes to the measures introduced in this bill.

The government claims it's easing the cost-of-living pressures through the JobSeeker measures I have now explained. But these changes do not even cover half a per cent of the population who need it. Last year saw the establishment of the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee. The committee's role is to provide independent advice to the government before every federal budget on economic inclusion and tackling disadvantage. Tasked with this role by this government, along with other key welfare organisations, that committee has specifically recommended the JobSeeker payment be lifted to 90 per cent of the value of the age pension as the most effective way to tackle poverty. Yet, in this most recent budget, that advice was ignored, and the measures introduced in this bill are nowhere near such an increase.

Seven in 10 people on income support are eating less and reporting difficulty getting essential medicine and care because their incomes are inadequate. The situation we see ourselves in deteriorates daily. When coupled with poor services and stigma around receiving these payments, the inadequacy of the JobSeeker payment is truly damaging.

The truth is that the changes in this legislation are entirely insufficient to prevent the widespread distress experienced by income support recipients in the current economic climate. The concept of a carer payment as an income support payment for those providing constant care to someone with a disability or a medical condition, or for an adult who is frail or aged, is something I support strongly. This deserves more attention than it has been given in these new measures. The care and support economy is one of the fastest-growing parts of the Australian economy, and yet the care sector is gravely underresourced and overburdened. The current rules around the carer payment have contributed to ongoing disadvantage, and the changes in this bill to relax the rules and improve flexibility in the hours that carers work, study or volunteer over a four-week period will mitigate some of the disadvantage being experienced. But the real disadvantage is on the level of support being provided to carers.

For the 2.65 million carers in Australia, the current maximum basic rate for individuals on a carer payment is $1,020.60 per fortnight. That's just $510 per week for someone who is providing constant care and is limited to 25 hours of work per week, or 100 hours of work over the four-week settlement period under the new rules. It's not going to get anyone anywhere with rent or basic needs such as grocery, energy bills and transport costs—certainly not in my seat of North Sydney. I must point out that 71 per cent of the carer payment recipients are female, and that makes this a gendered issue. While I understand that the government introduced a draft national strategy for the care and support economy earlier this year, and that the reform agenda is reportedly underway, I urge the government to expedite these initiatives. The situation is becoming increasingly desperate, and far more needs to be done to address the gaps in the care sector.

My community will continue to advocate for these reforms. Everyone deserves respect and a fair go, no matter their background. We can have a healthy, productive, thriving and inclusive society, but to achieve this we must address the root cause of disadvantage; look for ways to ensure economic and social inclusion for all; and provide an adequate social security safety net. The recent budget was an opportunity for this government to take brave and courageous action to address the root causes—causes identified by the government itself. But the measures being introduced through this bill today, while welcomed, will fall well short of delivering the solutions that have also already been identified. Australians will not be lifted out of poverty by these initiatives until we show the bravery required to move beyond bandaid solutions and meet the challenges of the future head-on.

While this bill is a small step forward, I will reiterate the point that the budget is about choice, and that the government has chosen not to go further when it comes to lifting Australians out of poverty.

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