Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Attacking Labor won't create a single job or help wages growth. The reality is that people are suffering desperately. The lack of wages growth is having a major impact on people's lives, yet this government refuses to act to stimulate the economy. The RBA, the IMF, state and territory governments, and businesses are calling for the Morrison government to stimulate the economy. We have seen the IMF, the OECD, the Reserve Bank and Deloitte Access Economics all downgrade Australia's expected growth. The IMF indicated that we're going to see an increase in the unemployment rate. And who do you think will feel this the most? It's the vulnerable, it's the unemployed, it's our young people in remote and regional Australia, and First Nations people in remote communities with no jobs.

A submission to the Community Affairs References Committee into the adequacy of Newstart and related payments from Dr Frances Markham and Professor John Altman at the ANU said:

The simplest way to reduce poverty in remote Indigenous Australia is to raise the rate of Newstart. It is not hyperbolic, but merely a restatement of the epidemiological evidence to point out that the current rate of Newstart is killing Indigenous Australians. Life expectancy gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians cannot be expected to close while the rate of Newstart remains so low.

Yet what does this government do? They attack Labor rather than make any moves to boost the economy. This government refuse to raise the rate of Newstart, and those on Newstart and youth allowance experience poverty at the highest rates. The inadequacy of Newstart is an economic issue as well as a welfare and wellbeing issue. Newstart recipients are six times more likely to face poor health outcomes, they're more likely to suffer from multiple conditions, they're more likely to suffer from mental health, and they're more likely to be hospitalised. Poor health is a barrier to work and we all know this. People are struggling to afford the basics and the essentials, and they're struggling to meet their medical and healthcare costs.

And what about CDP? CDP, not CDC—but we'll get to that at some point. CDP, the Community Development Program. The Work for the Dole program in Australia pays $11 an hour. The national minimum wage is $18.93 per hour. How can people be expected to look after their families? How can they afford groceries and power bills or put fuel in their vehicles? In September 2017 there were 32,600 CDP participants, 82.5 per cent of whom identified as Indigenous. We were told during the last term of government that this government—the Morrison government—would find 6,000 jobs for those 33,000 people. There were big promises on jobs. Well, where are those jobs? Six thousand subsidised jobs were supposed to commence in February this year. It's October. That very quietly was downgraded to 1,000 jobs, and now—wait for it—the Morrison government has very quietly put out a package of just 100 subsidised jobs on CDP. One hundred jobs—not 6,000, not even 1,000. They've just quietly said, 'We'll give 100 jobs.'