Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today marks two years since our Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, became Prime Minister. There were many across the country who welcomed the change from the member for Warringah to the member for Wentworth. They welcomed it because they thought it was going to mark a change in this government's behaviour. We all knew that the Abbott years were about compliance and about punishment for many in our community. The 2014 budget certainly declared that. We've had a list of those things.

But, sadly, I stand here today to share my community's frustrations with this government and its obsession with compliance and punishment. We don't have to look very far. We don't have to look very far at all. We can see it through the disability support pension, where the compliance requirements for people are increasingly difficult to meet. We stand here in this chamber today wearing R U OK? badges and yet, on the ground, people who might need to be asked, 'Are you okay?' are busy meeting compliance requirements so they can get the support they need. We are seeing a government that suggests that people should keep their pay slips for an interminably long time so that, if ever it eventuates, they can demonstrate to an inefficient democracy that they don't owe Centrelink backdated money for the previous 10 years. They are asked to be compliant on that. We are seeing a government in Social Services that is intent in this space. We are seeing young people being asked to work for $4 an hour on top of their Newstart payment without due recompense, without a minimum wage. They are being asked to comply with that. They have been asked by this government to ensure that they are compliant. If they are not compliant, there will be punitive measures. They will lose their Newstart payment for a period of time. They will have a black mark against their name for a period of time. We are seeing it across our communities.

But my question to this government on the second anniversary of Prime Minister Turnbull's ascension is: what happens when this government fails in compliance? What happens then? You don't have to look very far. In yesterday's headlines we saw that the robo-debt disaster had resulted in 20,000 incorrect letters being sent out. Of course, that is only the people who challenged them. Of the people who had the wherewithal, support and capacity to challenge their letter, we find that 20,000 people received incorrect letters. Amongst them, many were accused of being thieves when they were not. I ran into someone in my electorate recently who had come to my office to seek support in this process. They were one of the 40 who live in Werribee who have been found not to owe a cent, after all of that trauma.

So what happens to those in this government who implemented that process? What happens when they are not compliant with what the community expectations are? I ask this pertinently with you in the chair, Member for Hindmarsh, because it was 4 September when we both stood here on a motion to ask: where's the data about the My Aged Care packages and the Home Care Packages? We both noted, Mr Deputy Speaker Georganas, that it was promised in February, in July and then in August. We stood here on 4 September and asked, 'Where is that data?' Well, it is 14 September and we are still waiting for the data that is going to tell us how long people are waiting, particularly for levels 3 and 4, between their assessment and when they are able to access that home care. We are asking for very important reasons. We have already seen in our communities that we have people waiting up to 18 months to access this. If there is an issue, the longer it takes to expose it the longer it takes to fix it. So I ask: what are the punitive measures that this government will apply to itself?

I suspect it is a bit like the punitive measure the government is applying to big businesses, which is a bit of a 'hard chat' when they fail to meet their tax obligations or when they are perceived to be gouging the system. What are the punitive measures that the ministers in this government will face for their failures to meet community expectations and their failures in reporting to this parliament things that we need to know so we can make a better system?