Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I will just add to that. While I would like to continue just to look forward, as Senator Bernardi has said, unfortunately the fact is that these organisations are dealing with people who are suffering as a result of policies that were brought in when the opposition was in government. So, as much as I do not want to look in the rear-vision mirror either, the fact is that we are dealing with the legacy of some of the policies that were brought in. These organisations are dealing with that. I am not saying all of them, so do not try and misquote me, but certainly they are dealing with some of the consequences of the policies that were brought in—that is, they are dealing with families who are struggling to make ends meet and are some of the most disadvantaged in our community.

I find it disingenuous, I must say, to say that there is not enough modelling to show what the cost of this is going to be. I was quoting Treasury figures to show the cost of this. I am quoting published figures when I quote the value of this sector to the community. Hiding behind modelling and the lack of it is, I think, disingenuous. You can go and say to the community sector, ‘We would have supported it but we didn’t have the modelling.’ You did not have the modelling when you brought in a whole lot of other changes either but you brought them in anyway. I am sorry; you cannot just wipe the past, because we live with the consequences now. These organisations are dealing with the consequences now. What is $80 million to $100 million to the $50 billion that the sector contributes? As I said, I think that is a conservative value.

This sector is there slogging it out day-in, day-out, 24/7. You are hiding behind the lack of modelling to support this so you can say, ‘We would have supported it but they haven’t done the modelling.’ If you had been doing the job at the time, this would have been indexed. And it has not been. I do not want to get into a brawl across the chamber about this, because I think this should be above politics, but you have now suddenly discovered that there are people out there who are suffering, when some of us have known that for years and years. Those who work with these people have known this for years and years, and it is time that we did something about it. This is one way that we can start to deliver these services. You know what? I do not need the modelling to tell me that if these sectors have to fold up—if these sectors cannot carry out the work they do with, for example, the aged—the government will have a hell of a bigger bill in years to come. I do not need to model it to tell you that. Anybody can tell you, without the modelling, that if the sector cannot continue their work government will be picking up the bill—and it will be a lot more than $100 million. This community sector is worth more than petty bickering around whether there is a model to tell how much extra this will cost when we know a ballpark figure.