Damian Hale (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Why is it critical that the government’s welfare reforms commence as early as possible?

Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Solomon for his question. As he knows, the government are determined to make sure we provide welfare responsibly and we are determined to also make sure that welfare encourages personal responsibility and supports people to do the right thing, especially by their children. That is why our major welfare reforms, commencing in the Northern Territory, are critical. Income management will be used to fight passive welfare and also to increase personal responsibility. What we want to see is people making sure that their children go to school, and we want to see young people getting into work and training. We intend to do everything we possibly can to fight passive welfare and to link income support to school attendance and to study and work. These requirements are not in place at the current time.

Our reforms that are currently before the Senate extend the benefits of income management to both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people who are in need of financial protection and better financial structure in their lives. The reforms that we intend to put in place are non-discriminatory. They will apply across the Northern Territory, in the towns—places like Tennant Creek and Katherine—as well as in the suburbs of Darwin and Alice Springs.

From our point of view, income management is a very useful and important tool for protecting vulnerable people, particularly for protecting children. It makes sure that welfare payments are spent on the essentials of life—things like food, clothing and rent—and not on alcohol and drugs. I am certainly very aware that there are very strong views held on welfare reform, but where is the dignity of a life spent on welfare? Where is the dignity for children in not being properly fed or clothed? And I have to say there is no dignity at all in teaching the next generation that a welfare cheque is the best that they can expect from their lives. So, from our point of view, income management is a vital measure to protect the basic rights and to make sure the most vulnerable in our community are protected so that they can have the same sorts of aspirations that other Australians aspire to: a decent job, a decent home, a safe and healthy life.

We do have a number of people calling for this legislation to get through the Senate as quickly as possible. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda and the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance in the Northern Territory are just two calling for the passage of these reforms in the coming fortnight. The legislation in the Senate at the moment also reinstates the operation of the Racial Discrimination Act in the Northern Territory. So it would be completely irresponsible to delay these reforms, which are designed to protect and assist vulnerable people. We want to see this legislation debated and agreed to in the Senate in the next fortnight so that vulnerable people in the Northern Territory are able to get the help that they need and that they have been waiting for for too long.