Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer given by the Minister for Families and Social Services (Senator Ruston) to a question without notice she asked today relating to Anti-Poverty Week.

This week is Anti-Poverty Week, and you would have thought that the government might have tried to sound a bit sympathetic this week to people who are caught up in the whirlpool of poverty, but no. Not only couldn't Minister Ruston bring herself to condemn the appalling words of former New South Wales Liberal minister Pru Goward; Minister Ruston doubled down. Although saying that the government was very concerned about vulnerable people, when it came to the crunch she could not even bring herself to state the bleeding obvious: that the JobSeeker rate of $44 a day is totally inadequate and that it condemns people to lead lives of abject poverty. Balance was what she said it was all about. We can't have income support that's too generous, otherwise people won't have the incentive to go out and get a job. For that, read: 'We have to make you desperate enough to try to get work that more than likely is going to be underpaid, that more than likely is going to exploit you, that more than likely is going to be totally insecure and/or dangerous.' That's what this balance is all about.

Her uncaring answer just made me furious. It reflected the uncaring brutality of this government that, frankly, does not care that over a million people are living in poverty in Australia. It made me furious, but I've got a well-paid job. In listening to her answer, I wondered: how would people living in poverty on JobSeeker feel about how their government feels about them?

I'm thinking about the people I've recently spoken with. I've had the community affairs portfolio for just over a month—since Senator Siewert resigned—and I've taken the opportunity to reach out to a whole lot of organisations and a whole lot of people. I'm thinking about Isabel. Isabel is a 26-year-old trans women living on JobSeeker in Brisbane. She told me she lives in chronic pain and cannot spend a lot of time standing, which makes it extremely difficult for her to work. She also lives with severe mental health issues, which have been exacerbated by social isolation and relying on JobSeeker. She told me: 'Being on JobSeeker makes you feel like you're disgusting and reviled. If you can't pay a bill, people look at you like you've spat on their face. The narrative around JobSeeker is constructed in a way that tells people you want to be poor.' When I asked Isabel what it was like to find secure housing on the JobSeeker payment, she said that, as a trans woman, it was scary. She said: 'As a trans woman, I need to be in a place where I am safe from possible victimisation. I need to reduce my risk of victimisation. I need to find places I can afford but places that are queer-friendly.' She fears that, if she ever had to move out from where she lives, there would be limited options that are both safe and affordable.

This is unacceptable. The answer to my question today was basically demonising people like Isabel. Isabel should be able to find a safe place to live as a trans women. When I asked Isabel what it was like receiving the COVID supplement last year, when the JobSeeker rate was doubled, she said: 'When it started, the impact on my general wellbeing, essentially at the same time I realised I was trans—it gave me the ability to get through a healthcare system that is not just institutionally gate-kept but also financially gate-kept. I had freedom. I didn't think they would drop us back into hell. But they very slowly did, over a few months.' She told me: 'On $80 a day, realistically, I could probably fix my life. The distance from where I am now to where I need to be could be reduced. But, at the moment, on the current rate, it is unconquerable.'

It is people like Isabel that I feel for. On hearing Senator Ruston's answer to my question today, they would feel like it was a kick in the guts—that this government is brutally uncaring and does not have any empathy at all for what they are going through. What I want to say to Isabel and the millions of people who are surviving in poverty on JobSeeker is that this government is not listening and we've got to kick them out. But I hear you. The Greens hear you. We know that $44 a day is a pittance and we know we need to raise the rate for good. To do that, we are going to have to turf this uncaring heartless government out of office.

Question agreed to.