Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Families and Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

The rate of JobSeeker has not changed. The base rate of JobSeeker has remained the same throughout the pandemic. For those who are confused about all the names: JobSeeker is the new name of the consolidated payments that were primarily, in the past, the Newstart rate. Just by some extraordinary quirk of coincidence, the day that those eight payments became one payment, the JobSeeker payment, happened to coincide with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. I think there is a misconception in a lot of places that the JobSeeker payment is a coronavirus-specific payment; there just incidentally happened to be a name change to a consolidation of payment from the Newstart rate. I just want to put that on the record so that we have clarity around what we're talking about.

The powers that we were discussing, Senator Pratt, were in relation to the powers that are on offer through the amendment that's been put forward by the opposition—to vest in me, as the minister for social services, ongoing powers to make changes in relation to measures that relate to the pandemic. There are a number of measures that were impacted. We all talk about the coronavirus supplement—and that's certainly the headline thing that we've been talking about—but there are a number of measures that are impacted. I know that, by this instrument, you're seeking to enable me to have the power to be able to make changes, whether they be to the partner income taper rate or the eligibility for people to be able to get access to payment. We have quite a large number of people who currently have access to payment who would otherwise not have access to payment, whether they be sole traders, people who've been stood down, or somebody, for instance, who has to isolate because they have the virus or they are caring for somebody who has the virus. Another one that relates to this power is the income-free area and the ability to be able to change the rates of the income-free area. The matter that you're referring to, in terms of the powers that you are seeking to provide to me as the minister for social services, relates to coronavirus-specific actions that were put in place.

As I said to you, Senator Pratt, the reason that the government is suggesting that we don't proceed with this particular power is that we believe that the parliament is able to sit and that, as a result of it being able to sit, the parliament should be allowed to exercise its power and responsibility over this type of decision. It is because of the magnitude of the decision that we believe that it should be something that we should ask the parliament to make a decision about instead of just vesting that power in the minister for social services. I recognise that that has been done in the past, but the reason it was done in the past was that we were concerned that the parliament might not be able to sit as a result of the fact that the coronavirus pandemic had restricted any movement by us as politicians, as it did every other member of the population in terms of their ability to move around the country.