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

The Greens will be supporting the amendments that have been moved by the opposition because, as I foreshadowed in my speech in the second reading debate, we will be supporting any measures that will improve income support in our society. Obviously, these measures that Senator Smith has put forward again only address the issues being faced by older people—in this case, allowing people on the age pension to be able to earn more—but we think that's a good start. We think that should be supported. We need a more generous income support system in this country across the board. This is a good start.

Poverty is a political choice. We can choose to introduce measures here that will lift people out of poverty, and this is a good measure that will help lift people out of poverty. So we will be supporting this measure but, again, we call upon the opposition and we call upon the Labor Party to actually do much more. There are people across the board, whether they are young or old, whether they are working or not working, who are really, really struggling. They are doing it so tough. They are struggling to put food on the table. They are not able to afford rent and are then being made homeless. They cannot afford medicines. Australians across the board are struggling with all of these things. We will support this measure as one measure that will help some Australians. It's a start, but it's not enough.