Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to Senator Tyrrell's foreshadowed amendment to the motion for the second reading of the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (More Support in the Safety Net) Bill 2024 in regard to the call that it makes for the government to make JobSeeker payments tax free. I want to be very clear that we have the utmost respect for Senator Tyrrell and for the motivation behind this amendment, which is absolutely to improve the lot of people on JobSeeker payments.

As I've pointed out this week in the Senate and as others in the Australian Greens have pointed out this week in the Senate, people who are on JobSeeker payments are unemployed or underemployed through no fault of their own. Either they've been shifted from other forms of income support onto JobSeeker payments because of punitive policy changes over the last few decades from governments made up of establishment political parties or they are unemployed or underemployed because the employment market in Australia is deliberately structured as a matter of establishment party policy to ensure that there are more people seeking jobs than there are jobs. The reason that that is done by establishment political parties is very simple. It's because it keeps wages low. We found that out while listening closely in particular to former senator Cormann who said the quiet thing out loud when he said that low wages were a feature of the policy of the former Liberals-Nationals government in Australia. He said that when he was the finance minister. I well remember him saying that quiet thing out loud.

The fact that low wages are a feature of Liberals-Nationals policy wouldn't have come as a surprise to anyone watching politics closely in this country over the last 30 or 40 years, but to have it stated so boldly and so overtly did come as a bit of a surprise. But the fact that it was stated so explicitly allows people who want to understand why people are unemployed or underemployed in this country to have that understanding: that low wages are a design principle of our employment policies in this country. That statement applies equally to governments from either side of the establishment spectrum here in Australia. The mechanism for delivering on that policy of keeping wages low is ensuring that there are more hours of work being sought in Australia than there are hours of work available. Then, of course, the laws of supply and demand kick in, and wages are lower than they otherwise would be.

None of those words are Senator Tyrrell's. She may agree, or she may not; I don't know. But what I do know, having listened to her contribution, is that she has come in here today to try to make the life of people on JobSeeker better and she's trying to make sure they have more dollars in their pockets. Do they need more dollars in their pockets? Absolutely they need more dollars in their pockets. That's why it's been a longstanding position of the Australian Greens that the JobSeeker payment should be raised to $88 a day. This would lift people on JobSeeker out of poverty.

In fact, we don't only have a policy of raising JobSeeker to $88 a day; we have a policy of raising all income support payments to $88 a day. That would allow people who are unemployed or underemployed through no fault whatsoever of their own to lead a dignified life. That would allow them the opportunity to have a decent home; to be able to put food on the table for themselves or their families, if they've got a family; and to engage in other aspects of life that so many of us have the privilege of being able to take for granted but that people on JobSeeker can only dream of because they simply can't afford to engage in those elements of life that we all in this place would undoubtedly take for granted because of our financial privilege.

I do want to say, through you, Acting Deputy President, to Senator Tyrrell, that the Greens aren't in the business of making tax policy on the run, so we're not in a position to be able to support Senator Tyrrell's amendment today. But I do want to thank her for bringing it on, to acknowledge the generosity of spirit that is behind this motion and to explain to the chamber, again, that, rather than effectively taking JobSeeker payments outside the tax system or raising the tax-free threshold—it's not clear which of those mechanisms Senator Tyrrell's motion would trigger—it is the Greens position to raise JobSeeker to $88 a day. In effect, that comes from the same place as Senator Tyrrell's second reading amendment on this legislation, and, for avoidance of doubt, that place is where a motivation to improve the financial circumstances of people on JobSeeker stems from. While we aren't able to support the mechanism proposed by Senator Tyrrell's amendment, we do acknowledge her and thank her for bringing this on.

Through my contribution today, I hope colleagues can come to an understanding that the Australian Greens absolutely believe that the financial circumstances of people on JobSeeker in this country need to be improved. Poverty in Australia, in a wealthy country like this, is a political choice, and it has been made by too many governments of both political stripes, the establishment parties, for far too long. Something needs to change. The way the Australian Greens will go about changing that situation and improving the financial lives of people on JobSeeker and, in fact, of everyone on all streams of income support is to raise all income support to $88 a day, which would haul so many Australians out of poverty and allow them to lead a dignified life.