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

I want to make a few short points about the bill and to note that the Greens, who supported these amendments when we were considering the bill previously, won't be insisting on our amendments. As we know, the underlying component of this bill is to extend the availability of the Commonwealth seniors healthcare card. It has cross-party support. Everybody agrees to it.

The amendments to this bill that were moved when we last considered it included key provisions relating to the work bonus for age pensioners. I want to put on the record that, when there are good amendments from the opposition, we Greens are open to supporting those amendments where they improve the bill. In this case, we thought that they would improve the bill. We thank the opposition for putting forward an amendment to this bill that would have provided greater support to age pensioners, which is why we voted in support of those amendments. However, I recognise and thank the government for having introduced a workforce incentive bill in the other place since we last considered this bill. The provisions of that bill are currently being considered by the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee. We are going to be listening very closely to stakeholder views on that bill that we hear through the inquiry. In relation to stakeholders who have engaged on this issue, I want to thank National Seniors Australia, particularly, for their advocacy on this issue of providing greater support to age pensioners and allowing them to earn more before their pension is reduced.

More broadly, I want to reiterate a point of made a number of times, particularly last night and today. We support changes that make it easier to access income support and to make income support more generous. We think that it's appalling that the government hasn't chosen to raise the rate of JobSeeker, because poverty is a political choice. It was a choice that the Liberal government made for a decade and is a choice that Labor is now making. So for everyone who is struggling to survive on an income support payment, whether it be on JobSeeker or the age pension, we hear you and we're going to keep on fighting and advocating for you.