Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

Australians have responded magnificently, working together to stay at home, observe social-distancing requirements and take care of one another. But, after months of being inside, isolating from friends and family and trying to balance work with the added responsibilities that come from children learning at home, Australians could be forgiven for wanting things to return to normal. But 'normal' was not good for many Australians. For casual warehouse workers, it meant not knowing what your wage would be the following week. In many, many cases in the retail sector, it meant working in an environment where your employer was stealing your wages and doing so knowingly. For childcare workers, it meant that no matter how much you loved your job you did it knowing that it was undervalued for the skill and care required to perform it. For people on income support payments, it meant a daily struggle for a dignified life.

People who are out of work deserve to be treated with dignity. The rate of the jobseeker payment before this pandemic was inadequate; the government's increase to the payment during the pandemic is an admission of this fact. The increase that's been provided means that people don't have to choose between missing a meal and missing a job interview if they don't have the money for both.

It is strange, indeed, that the top priority for the Liberals appears to be cutting this payment. Reports are that the government wants to snap back the jobseeker payment to $40 a day. Those reports are disturbing. The latest advice from the Department of Social Services is that it believes another 400,000 Australians will require the jobseeker payment by September, bringing the total number of recipients to 1.7 million Australians. This is important for those 1.7 million people, but it is also incredibly important for the Australian economy. It is a payment that is helping to keep the economy afloat.

Snapping back the payment to its old rate will be the equivalent of removing $1 billion per fortnight from the Australian economy. It will have a dire impact on small businesses. It will have a dire impact on jobs. This money is all being spent on essential services in local communities, and it has a big impact in the regions. This payment means a great deal to small businesses in northern New South Wales. This payment means a great deal to small businesses on the South Coast and those communities ravaged by bushfires. This payment means that there is money available in communities not only to keep businesses afloat but also to keep people healthy and safe in their homes.

So why would the government even contemplate doing this? This is a group of people attached to their ideological ideas. This is a government that struggles to adjust to changing circumstances. We saw this in the policy proposals floated by the Treasurer in his statement today. In good times, the policy solution is tax cuts and IR reform. What's the policy solution in bad times? It's also tax cuts and IR reform. It is a policy for all seasons. There is no circumstance where the government's response will not be tax cuts and IR reform.

In this policy area, the government has an obvious, sneering, ideological distaste for people who require welfare. We hear them say that the best form of welfare is a job. Well, jobs are good, and we need more jobs, and these kinds of payments at a time of crisis support jobs. But if you ask Australians who can't find work, they will probably say that an unemployment payment that you can live on is also pretty good. Those 1.7 million Australians won't be out of work in September because they're lazy. There simply isn't the work out there. Any examination of the stats from the ABS, in particular the underemployment figures, will show you that there hasn't been sufficient paid work in the Australian economy for some time. The government should treat people who are out of work with dignity.