Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Anybody who has been paying attention in the Senate this week can't fail to be aware that it is Anti-poverty Week. I've been taking every opportunity I can to not only highlight the need to raise the appalling rate of Newstart but also look at the impacts of the low rate of Newstart and its impact on people who are living in poverty. One of the key groups that I particularly want to focus on tonight is First Nations peoples.

We know that wealth and income are not distributed evenly across this country, and First Nations peoples, who are already experiencing greater levels of poverty than other communities in Australia, are also affected by the low rates of Newstart. On average, First Nations peoples receive personal income that is only two-thirds that of non-Aboriginal people. It has been estimated that one-third of the gap in life expectancy between First Nations peoples and other Australians is as a result of poverty. Poverty is one of the drivers of the many issues faced by First Nations peoples, including incarceration rates, mental health issues and poor health. On top of this, the low rate of Newstart is trapping First Nations peoples in poverty. First Nations peoples make up more than one in 10 Newstart recipients and one in five youth allowance recipients.

Dr Markham from the ANU and Professor Altman, an emeritus professor from Deakin University, have said:

… the current rate of Newstart is killing Indigenous Australians. Life expectancy gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians cannot be expected to close while the rate of Newstart remains so low.

It's not only the low rate of Newstart that is hurting First Nations peoples; it's also the government's punitive and onerous approach to reporting requirements and mutual obligations. First Nations peoples bear the brunt of financial penalties, payment suspensions and payment cancellations applied under unemployment programs and, in particular, the Community Development Program. The government keeps penalising First Nations peoples through punitive measures such as compulsory income management, the Community Development Program, jobactive and ParentsNext. The current approaches are actually increasing and exacerbating the rate of poverty in First Nations communities.

First Nations peoples are being locked out of their basic right to social security because many are disappearing from the social security system and have no visible means of support. First Nations peoples are actually walking away from the system; that's what it looks like, according to the statistics. This may in fact be what the government is trying to achieve. Making the system so difficult to navigate, so difficult to keep in contact with and so difficult to stay connected with is a way of decreasing our income support budget. (Time expired)

Senate adjourned at 20:00