Scott Ryan (Victoria, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

The government is committed to ensuring Australia has a strong welfare safety net, while we maintain the integrity of the system to ensure it is affordable and sustainable. Taxpayers rightly expect that those who can work should work, and the government announced a comprehensive suite of reforms in last night's budget to act on that expectation. The budget includes a simplification of seven working-age payments into a single jobseeker payment. This will be complemented by improvements to mutual obligations and compliance by the Minister for Employment. The suite of measures is designed to ensure that appropriate support is provided to help jobseekers into employment and to improve the long-term sustainability of the system. In response to the question about my own personal opinion, it is not my portfolio, so it is probably best I do not comment.