Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to contribute to the debate on the Social Security Amendment (COVID-19 Supplement) Bill 2020, proposed by the Australian Greens. This year, 2020, has been a year like no other. Who would have predicted that when we were experiencing bushfires, floods and droughts at the start of the year things could get any worse? But they did. As with each of these other challenges, Australians and, particularly, the Australian government have responded.

As part of that response, the Morrison government introduced the coronavirus supplement, which has provided additional support for Australians affected by this year's coronavirus pandemic. It was paid to those who receive an eligible income payment, such as JobSeeker, partner allowance, widow allowance, Austudy, parenting payment and farm household allowance, and it will continue to be paid until 31 December this year. The coronavirus supplement is a fortnightly payment that has been added on top of eligible income support payments. This supplement was initially paid at $550 per fortnight and was scheduled to cease on 24 September. Although there were some positive signs of recovery within the economy at that time, and with Victoria still in lockdown, the Australian government extended payment of the supplement, at the reduced rate of $250, until the end of the year with a further review to be undertaken as relevant data became available.

Senator Siewert's private senator's bill to increase the supplement back to the $550 rate fails to consider that this supplement was always intended as a temporary measure. It was introduced at a time when many people had lost their jobs, businesses were closed, and states and territories were locked down to suppress the spread of coronavirus. The coronavirus supplement has already been extended until the end of this year, which is an additional three months. It would not be reasonable for the Australian government to make long-term structural changes to our payment systems while we are still dealing with the impact of a health pandemic and the economic response to that situation. This situation is very fluid, and we are still not clear on what the new normal is going to look like on the other side.

We are still committed to our values of providing a targeted, sustainable welfare system that encourages participation in the workforce. Our welfare system provides a safety net rather than a wage replacement to people as they transition into employment. These values served us well before the coronavirus crisis and will continue to underpin our social safety net as we emerge on the other side of the pandemic. Before this pandemic, we had created 1½ million jobs and the proportion of working-age people who were reliant on welfare was the lowest it had been in more than 30 years. There were 330,000 fewer working-age income support recipients between June 2014 and June 2019. This government has a strong history of delivering job opportunities, providing pathways and breaking down barriers for people on welfare. The aim of the coronavirus supplement was to provide additional support for income support recipients, in recognition of the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, in the knowledge that the situation affected people's ability to find and retain paid employment. At that time, the Australian economy was substantially disrupted due to the important health restrictions introduced earlier this year to keep us all safe.

The government also expanded access to payments by waiving waiting periods and changing eligibility criteria. As the Australian government has already indicated, many times, we will continue to closely monitor the economic impact of this pandemic and, in particular, the response of the labour market. We've already made the commitment that if the coronavirus supplement is still required after December it will be continued. It is not realistic to pre-empt the circumstances we may find ourselves in tomorrow, next week or even next month. Since the budget announcement last month, we have had the benefit of updated labour force figures, weekly payroll jobs figures and a clearer sense of how health restrictions are relaxing, especially in Victoria. Right now, the government is focused on continuing to respond to the situation as it unfolds, which means any further decisions around the extension of the supplement will not be made until later in the year.

As mentioned earlier by Senator Hughes, the Australian government's economic response was comprehensive. It included JobKeeper payments, enhancements across the entire income support system, early access to super, HomeBuilder, and cash flow support to businesses. These economic solutions provided unprecedented support to the Australian community. This economic response accounts for close to 16 per cent of Australia's GDP, but this investment is estimated to increase real GDP by around 4.25 per cent in 2020-21.

Positives from our economic response to this health pandemic can already be seen. Economies around the country have already started to bounce back. Indeed, business indicator data released from the Australian Bureau of Statistics in October shows few businesses reported a revenue decrease in October compared to July and almost three-quarters of businesses had not sought additional funds over the past six months. The same dataset showed approximately one in five medium and large businesses and six per cent of small businesses reported an increase in the number of employees. However, while there have been encouraging job figures over recent months, we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We know there are many people who are still hurting as a result of the measures put in place during the pandemic. As the government have continually demonstrated, we will be flexible and are committed to monitoring the economic situation and responding as the situation evolves.

Right now the plan is clear till the end of the year. That plan is to provide an additional level of support while encouraging and helping people to get back into the workforce. We understand that the jobs market remains weak, but we also know that there are still jobs out there. In my home state of Tasmania I know that farmers are crying out for fruit pickers, as the spring-summer picking season starts. Last week the Tasmanian government's Harvest Trail website had more than 2,000 agricultural jobs available. They may not be full-time jobs and they may be in different industries to what people are used to or prefer, but business groups and businesses have told us through the jobs-in-demand survey that an increasing number of employers are citing a lack of applicants as the reason they are struggling to employ.

It is our responsibility to ensure that the rate of JobSeeker does not become a deterrent or a disincentive for those receiving it to seek out and accept work when it is available. Again, as Senator Hughes mentioned earlier, from 25 September we increased the income-free area for the JobSeeker payment, which means people can earn up to $300 per fortnight without it affecting their income support payments. We have to strike the right balance between temporary enhanced support and incentives to work. We want people to get out there and take up the job opportunities that are available because we know that people who report earnings to Centrelink are twice as likely to no longer need an income support payment within a year.

As this additional coronavirus support is available for those who would generally be expected to participate in the labour market, such as those receiving JobSeeker, the Greens' call for the government to extend the supplement to those receiving disability support pension and carer payments is not appropriate. Pension payments are long-term payments that are paid at the highest rate in the income support system. They are paid at this higher rate because recipients are generally not expected to work to support themselves.

Senator Hughes mentioned in her contribution that, in recognition of the economic impact of the coronavirus, eligible pensioners, including those receiving disability support pension and carer payments, received two economic support payments of $750. That first payment was automatically paid by Centrelink between 31 March and 17 April. The second payment was made from 13 July. In addition they will receive two further economic support payments of $250 in November 2020 and March 2021.

While very few countries provide the strong safety net that Australia enjoys, we need to remember that these welfare payments are funded by taxpayers and we need to ensure this is managed responsibly. This responsibility extends to our future generations, our children, who will have to meet the costs of the system in the decades to come. Our focus is now on getting people back into jobs, businesses reopening and Australians moving to a COVID-safe world where protections are in place.

When Australia and the rest of the world were in the grip of the coronavirus pandemic in March the Australian government made the decision to introduce a temporary supplement to help those who needed extra support deal with the health and economic impacts we were facing. This support protected Australians at a time when health restrictions affected their ability to look for work, but it was never a permanent solution. The Australian government have already committed to continue monitoring the economic situation in relation to this pandemic and have said that we will extend the supplement again if needed, but we do not need to commit to a permanent supplement.