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

Whether you are kicking people off income support for six months or for one month, it is an extremely cruel measure and it ignores the evidence—and I realise the government is an evidence-free zone when it is making these measures. The fact is that keeping people in poverty, which is what you do to young people when you kick them off income support, means they are not able to find work. Poverty has a devastating impact on young people—on anybody—when they are looking for work. This is a counterproductive measure and it is cruel and harsh. It demonises young people as if it is their fault that they cannot find employment. Last year the government said these young people are sitting at home on the couch. Actually, they are not. They want to find work. This will make it harder for young people to find work. It is a counterproductive measure. It is cruel, it is mean, it is demonising and it should be rejected.