Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Corporate Governance and Responsibility) Share this | Hansard source

That is fine. I will speak very briefly on this—given that it is the last day of sitting, I do not intend to hold up these proceedings too much. We have articulated, both in the other place and in this chamber during the second reading debate, our views in relation to the pensioner education supplement. I want to emphasise that this is a broken commitment by the government. The government indicated when it introduced its Welfare to Work changes that persons who were put onto the lower payment as a result of these changes who were receiving the pensioner education supplement for the purposes of completing a course would continue to be able to receive it. The government now seeks to put another provision through which will effectively limit their capacity to continue to receive the pensioner education supplement. So this is another broken commitment from the Howard government.

Apart from that, there is the broader policy issue which really demonstrates the different approaches to welfare reform: that taken by the government and that argued for by the opposition. We are of the view that mutual obligation must be matched by opportunity. We are of the view that people do not get a job unless they have the skills that an employer needs. We believe that the government should encourage, help and support those people who want to move from welfare to work to get the skills they need to get a job. We think that is in the national interest. It is also in the interests of those people on income support.

We agree—I think all parties in the chamber agree; certainly the opposition and the government are of the view, and I assume the minor parties—that moving people who are able to work from welfare to work is absolutely in the national interest and in the interests of the individuals concerned. But we think it is important that the government actually also puts its shoulder to the wheel. Obligation must be matched with opportunity. We fail to understand why it is that the government wants to cut access to this entitlement. It is not a princely sum. My recollection is that for full-time students it is approximately $60 a fortnight and around half that for part-time students. But for people on these levels of income this provides very important support for the cost of education—for books and associated costs—for them to get the skills they need to get a job. That is what we are talking about: we are talking about people on income support who are trying to get the skills they need to move from welfare to work. That is something that should be supported by governments. That should be something governments assist with. Instead what we see is the Howard government putting roadblocks in the way of people seeking to gain the skills they need to get work.