Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) Share this | Hansard source

The opposition opposes division 2 of part 1 of schedule 1 in the following terms:

(1) Schedule 1, Division 2, page 3 (line 12) to page 5 (line 25), to be opposed.

We just need to be clear, Senators—through you, Madam Chair—about what this amendment does. We've had a significant debate, here and now, about the fact that this minister says that it is beyond her authority, that she wants the commission and the trust of the parliament, that she only wants to take action that she is allowed to take by the parliament and that too much discretionary power is no good. That is of course a principle that we can accept, apart from the fact that this government stubbornly refuses to increase the rate of the JobSeeker payment. It's all very well to say, 'We need more parliamentary oversight on these issues,' and, 'I don't want to be able to exercise too much discretion to give money to people in the course of this pandemic.' I would be the first to admit that this amendment wouldn't be necessary if the government just got on and raised the rate of JobSeeker. I put the question.