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

I'm very pleased to speak on the budget papers today because the budget that the Treasurer handed down very recently is a budget that supports people with cost-of-living pressures now and sets our country up for the future. It is a positive plan that is about investing now and in tomorrow. I am pleased that there is not only significant support that we are delivering through my Social Services portfolio but also, importantly, initiatives that support the people in the southern suburbs of Adelaide in the electorate of Kingston, which I represent.

Of course, there are many benefits that will flow, as a result of this budget, to my seat. We just heard the member for Casey speak so glowingly about the urgent care clinics, and I could not reinforce his comments enough. These are a successful initiative of this government. Just to highlight the success, in Morphett Vale the urgent care clinic has been visited by 6,014 people. Expanding this really successful program in this budget is going to deliver more help for people when they need it—it might be for a fracture or something that isn't as significant as to need acute emergency care. But, at the moment, as a result of the neglect by those opposite, we do not have an appropriately functioning primary care system. These urgent care clinics have been well developed.

This is on top of getting back to fixing Medicare, which the health minister has been doing—including in the last budget, where the bulk-billing incentive was tripled. It has not just been primary care that's been a focus of this government. It has also been about making medicines cheaper. This was fiercely opposed by those opposite, but, just to put it in perspective: residents in Kingston have already saved over $1.7 million. That is money that's in the pockets of my local residents. It is a measure that those opposite opposed. Of course, importantly, in this budget we have PBS medicines frozen for general patients for a year, and for concession card holders this has been frozen at $7.70 for five years. This is a significant saving and makes sure that some of that cost-of-living pressure is taken off when it comes to buying medicine.

In addition to this, we are seeing a big investment in TAFE. I have seen firsthand already what fee-free TAFE had done at Noarlunga, and I've spoken about that in this place many times before. It has allowed people that had never considered vocational education, or had thought getting it was out of reach, to take the leap. It has also revitalised the Noarlunga TAFE campus, a TAFE campus that had been mothballed, Fee-free TAFE has re-enlivened it. Now within this budget there is extra funding, with $88.8 million to provide additional fee-free TAFE places, allowing more people in the southern suburbs of Adelaide and indeed right around the country to get the benefit of fee-free TAFE.

Also we've seen in this budget new infrastructure spending and, importantly, an investment in local roads. When I am having my street corner meetings and shopping centre stalls, the condition of local roads often comes up. I'm really proud of being part of a government that is willing to partner with state and local governments to actually deliver projects—not just put out a press release, say you're going to fund something and then never back it up, because you don't have a partner in it. We're partnering with local councils and local government. In my local area, that will mean a significant investment of over $30 million.

Through the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, in my electorate there are another 10,395 people who are now eligible, with that age range between 45 to 50. This is incredibly important and something that's really welcomed.

Finally, just in this area, I wanted to talk about the extension of Local Sporting Champions. This is a really important program and one I'm very proud to support.

In the time I have left: in the portfolio of social services we've taken a deliberate approach to support people with the cost of living. I would like to highlight, firstly, that we have committed to a further 10 per cent increase in the maximum rates of rent assistance. This is incredibly important and builds on our measures from the last budget. The benefit of this is not just directly for those people receiving it; it has actually worked, according to the ABS, to moderate rent across the spectrum. Of course, we want to see those rental rate increases moderated again, but this is a sensible matter. I would like to point out that, since our government was elected in May 2022, the maximum rates of Commonwealth rent assistance have increased by 42 per cent when combined with indexation and our base rate increases. That's a really important investment.

We've made changes to carers participation rules. These are really important for the 2.65 million unpaid carers, ensuring that if they want to work, study or volunteer they can do so more flexibly. We will be doing that by changing the 25-hour participation rule to allow for 100 hours over four weeks, as well as removing restrictions on studying and volunteering activities.

The partial capacity to work changes that are in front of the Senate ensure that the higher rate of JobSeeker is extended to those single recipients with a partial capacity to work under 15 hours, with a recognition that those people do face more barriers. Importantly, we have also chosen to freeze the social security deeming rates for a further 12 months to 30 June 2025. This means that over 870,000 current income support recipients, including 450,000 age pensioners, will be able to keep more of what they earn on their investments without affecting their pension.

On women's safety, we have made a significant investment in this budget, building on the investments we have made in previous budgets, particularly by establishing permanently the Leaving Violence Program. This program is incredibly important. Since becoming minister, I've been doing a lot of work to ensure that this program is fit for purpose. It is much more than just a financial support. That is a critical part of it, but it also is incredibly important for the casework, the referral work and also the risk assessment work done that is done in this program. I am so pleased that we will make this a permanent feature to support women leaving domestic violence circumstances.

In terms of disability, I am really pleased that, in this budget, we've announced that, from 1 July 2025, we will replace the current Disability Employment Services with a fit-for-purpose, specialised disability employment service. This really is an important program. It is important that people with a disability get the opportunity to participate in work and get the opportunities that many of us take for granted. We will ensure that our new program is inclusive but, importantly, is of high quality. When I became minister, I couldn't believe that the DES program did not measure clients' experience—the experience that people at the heart of the system had. So quality will be at the heart of our new system and will be critically important.

These are some of the areas we've been able to invest in through our responsible economic management, making sure that the priorities are focused on supporting people now and into the future but still delivering a budget surplus. That is so important when it comes to responsible economic management and putting downward pressure on inflation, and we will continue to act responsibly.

See this speech in context