Cory Bernardi (SA, Australian Conservatives) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I inform the Senate that at 8.30 am today 12 proposals were received in accordance with standing order 75. The question of which proposal would be submitted to the Senate was determined by lot. As a result, I inform the Senate the following letter has been received from Senator McKim:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I give notice that today I propose to move that, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

"That people on Newstart and Youth Allowance do not enjoy the same Christmas spirit as other Australians and struggle during the summer holidays due to the low rates of the payments and the Government's punitive compliance programs."

Is the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I understand that informal arrangements have been made to allocate specific times to each of the speakers in today's debate. With the concurrence of the Senate, I shall ask the clerks to set the clock accordingly.

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

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

That people on Newstart and Youth Allowance do not enjoy the same Christmas spirit as other Australians and struggle during the summer holidays due to the low rates of the payments and the Government's punitive compliance programs.

For many Australians, Christmas and the festive season is a happy time of the year, where people spend time with their loved ones and their family and close friends. But, for a significant proportion of Australians, it is the worst time of year. It's a time of hardship, frustration, loneliness and isolation. Just today I got an email, as I'm sure many of us did, about Roy Morgan's findings predicting pre-Christmas spending and what kids say they want for Christmas. Their list includes Netflix, iPads, iPhones and PlayStations. I'm sure parents among us won't be surprised by that. But those living on Newstart and youth allowance won't be buying their kids these presents. They simply can't afford them. They'll be lucky if they can buy presents for their children.

Today, over three million Australians are living below the poverty line, and one in six Australian children are living in poverty. The Christmas and holiday period is an incredibly difficult time for Australians who are living in poverty and, particularly, for those living on income support payments such as Newstart and youth allowance. There are things that many of us take for granted over Christmas that thousands of people on Newstart won't be able to afford—simple things like having Christmas lunch or dinner, buying gifts and going to, for example, the Boxing Day movie premieres. These things are exceptionally difficult, if not impossible, to do when you are living on less than $40 a day. People in poverty already make difficult choices every day, such as skipping meals, choosing between eating and medication, paying the rent or not turning on the heating. The list of what people on Newstart and youth allowance miss out on is very, very long. The low rates of income support payments mean that people living on Newstart are also excluded from participating in festive activities and events.

We always see a huge demand for charities and food release services over the Christmas period, with millions of Australians needing support. Each year Australian charities get ready for the holiday season by running Christmas appeals, asking for food donations—in fact, asking for gift donations—and putting the call out for volunteers. In recent years more and more charities are saying that they are seeing a rising number of families seeking relief over Christmas. Last year the Salvation Army released findings just before Christmas from a poll. They expected that 15.5 per cent of Australian adults were likely to contact a charity for help with basic necessities such as food, power or other bills that Christmas. They estimated that as many as 3 million Australians were likely to be seeking help from a charity at Christmas. Given that we haven't seen an increase in Newstart this year—and since, in fact, 1994—there's no reason to suggest at all that this situation won't be the same, if not worse, this year.

I'm incredibly worried about the growing number of people reaching out for emergency support over the Christmas period. Typically, more than 300,000 people turn to the Salvation Army alone for support at Christmas, and we know that there are many charities that are supporting people and those in need. They distributed over 100,000 meals. People who access emergency relief services are undergoing severe hardship, as highlighted by the Salvation Army's 2018 national economic and social impact survey. The survey revealed that 95 per cent of all households who access the Salvo's emergency services are living in poverty. The average person is living on just $21 a day after paying for accommodation. It found that 43 per cent have limited social connections and feel isolated most of the time. It found that 67 per cent report that food affordability is their greatest challenge on a day-to-day basis.

But what does it mean to access emergency relief services over Christmas? It means that you're experiencing financial hardship, food insecurity, housing stress and social disconnectedness. Hardship, loneliness, depression and anxiety are already heightened for many people over Christmas. Imagine what this feels like if you are living below the poverty line on Newstart or youth allowance. Social isolation is even worse when you can't afford to access public transport to visit your family or you can't afford to participate in the social activities that many of us take for granted. They can't afford a gift, food for their own meals, food to take to a celebration, or to invite family and friends to their home for a meal. The social isolation and exclusion people feel when they cannot participate in their community or partake in family activities is devastating for their emotional and social wellbeing and sense of being part of the community.

Many parents living on Newstart, especially single parents, feel the added pressure to provide more over the Christmas period. Then they feel shame that their children are missing out. Single-parent families in Australia already experience the lowest standard of living and biggest gap below the poverty line. Imagine trying to provide a normal Christmas experience for your children as a single parent on Newstart. This is the reality for many single parents who experience significant and serious financial hardship. This situation is particularly hard for children, especially the 22 per cent of children already experiencing food insecurity.

Our charities and social services are filling the gap in supporting people at Christmas time while the government continues to dodge its responsibility to look after all Australians. It is not fair that our charities, who are already struggling, are left to pick up the pieces and meet increasing demand for food relief, because people simply can't make ends meets on Newstart and youth allowance. Today I'm urging people in this chamber to think about what it means if you are living on income support payments over Christmas. Think of the impact that it is having on those families.

I would like to finish by sharing what it is really like to experience Christmas on the breadline. At the Senate inquiry into the adequacy of Newstart and other income support payments, we have been hearing from many people who are on Newstart. Nigel shared how his experience is so different from the Christmas displayed in the television commercials. He said:

I am on Newstart. It's coming up to the time of year where we will see commercials on television about Christmas. They will show happy people all celebrating, all enjoying each other's company and all sharing gifts with their loved ones. They'll all be in large homes with copious amounts of food for the traditional Christmas dinner. Television commercials are designed to present an ideal. However, they do not represent my reality. I cannot afford to buy all the gifts I am told my loved ones deserve. I cannot buy all the food I am told will make my Christmas the best it can be. This is not unique to Christmas. This is how I live all year round.

At the Perth hearing we heard from Renna about the difficulty of getting ready for Christmas. She said:

I feel exhausted because, on top of all those things, there is the rego once every three months. I lost my pension card because I had to go onto Abstudy when I started uni five months ago—and I can't believe I'm at uni; I never went to high school. It is going to be about $200 per month. Parking is $100 per month. Child care is about $120 per month.

All of this said, Christmas is coming up and I feel really frightened that I can't afford to buy anything for my children. Since moving over to Abstudy from Newstart a few months ago, I've lost my pension card, so I'm no longer eligible for the rebates that I used to get on my utilities, on my registration, on my licence. Essentially all of my costs have gone up greatly, and yet my eligibility for any rebates has gone down.

Those are examples of people's lived reality in this country.

I feel so desperately for those who are struggling to survive already on Newstart and youth allowance. I think about what Christmas means to them. It means stress, anxiety, not being able to share your food, and not being able to properly enjoy Christmas and enjoy your children's Christmas, because, as has been outlined here, people can't afford to buy gifts and put food on the table. Many people isolate themselves or are isolated, because they can't afford to participate. We need to increase Newstart. (Time expired)

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Acting Deputy President Bernardi. I note you are in the chair at the moment and this may well be my last speech with you as Acting Deputy President, so I will take this opportunity and I appreciate the privilege that it is. I rise to speak on this urgency motion brought before the chamber by the Greens, and I thank them for the opportunity to do so. Whilst on this side of the chamber we believe in having a strong economy, which creates jobs and provides more opportunities and new skills for all Australians, sadly that is not always shared. Whilst we on this side of the chamber believe in lowering the cost of and raising the national standard of living, again, sadly this is not always shared. Those on the other side of the chamber don't believe in lowering energy prices, don't believe in tax relief, which allows businesses of all sizes to employ more people, and they don't believe in lowering the tax burden on individuals. In fact, they believe quite the opposite.

They believe in putting policies in place that will see the Australian economy weaken, job creation evaporate and the cost of living increase exponentially. I have lost all hope that they will ever realise that a strong and robust economy that is able to withstand the headwinds that ours is facing is what makes service delivery in this country sustainable. Their ignorance reminds me of the famous quote by Winston Churchill:

I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle

If we lived in the Greens' version of this perfect world, where all their nation-weakening policies were put in place, any chance of Australians out of work finding meaningful, well-paying and long-term employment would be gone. If that wasn't enough, under their vision regional communities, those that are doing it the toughest, would all but cease to exist. They don't support any industry that drives our economy. We want to see, on this side of the chamber, the agricultural sector grow to $100 billion by 2020, and they want to see much of that shut down. We want to encourage new investment in resource projects across the country, which drive jobs in regional centres and lift millions—millions around the world, in fact—out of poverty. Sadly, they do not. We want to futureproof regional Australia through new investment in water infrastructure and resilience. I guess we can come to our own conclusions about where they sit on this. This is the type of country they want to see Australians living in: no investment, no industry, no jobs, no regional economies and no future. This is all for the sake of putting in place their socialist fantasies, as if we do this in this place as some type of left-wing board game.

Well, as a government, no-one is saying that it's easy to live without a job. I know many people, and I've worked with many people throughout my career, who have had that as the reality in their lives. We recognise that there are times when people need a safety net to help them get through when they're down on their luck. Few countries provide the strong safety net that we get to enjoy here in this country. Australia has one of the most targeted welfare systems in the world. Newstart is a non-contributory taxpayer funded allowance that provides a safety net for people while they look for a job. It's increased twice a year, in spite of what we heard Senator Siewert saying, in line with CPI, and it is not a wage replacement.

Our social services system touches almost all Australians at some stage in their lives. The safety net provided for the most vulnerable among us is particularly important. That's why it's critical and crucial that the system remains sustainable. It's the responsibility of government to ensure that our social security welfare system is sustainable into the future so that it can continue to provide support for those who need it most. Newstart was never meant to be a salary or wage replacement. It's a safety net for people while they are looking for work. It's often a convenient point of oversight by those across the chamber that everyone who receives Newstart is eligible for other forms of additional assistance from our welfare system, which is one of the most wideranging in the world.

It's also a convenient point of oversight that this government has a range of programs and initiatives in place to ensure our strong and job-creating economy is one that delivers benefits and opportunities for all Australians. The Morrison government is delivering the job opportunities, providing pathways and breaking down barriers for people on welfare, and I want to go through just a few of those. There are programs, such as Try, Test and Learn; individual placement support and Youth Jobs PaTH, which are providing a new and bright future for so many in this country who want nothing more than to get a job. As a Liberal, I'm proud of the results of the Transition to Work program, which is delivering on our investment of more than $570 million. I encourage those who are listening to have a look at this program and to understand the transformation that's happening in the lives of people—young people in particular—across this country through this program. Employees can ensure that they have access to intensive pre-employment support and become job ready. And employers can make sure that jobseekers have the skills that are requisite for the jobs that they have, setting them up for long-term employment. Since starting this program in 2016, Transition to Work has placed more than 40,000 young Australians into their career of choice. They are provided with the support that is necessary for them to be able to get a job and, importantly, then be sustained in those jobs after they're placed. It's an excellent program that needs to be examined. It's something that could actually inform the future of the more mainstream program called jobactive.

Throughout my life, I've worked with people from all walks of life, in all parts of the great state of Western Australia and, indeed, in the nation. From our cities to our remote regions, many individuals and families who find themselves entrenched in our welfare system with significant barriers to employment are being able to see the transformative effect that happens in their lives when they're able to move from welfare and into a job. And I've never heard them sympathise with the unfunded empathy of those opposite. They don't like the empty promises. They don't like hearing the rhetoric. What they want to say is: 'Give me the tools; equip me. Help me to be able to get into meaningful employment.' They want the skills and they want meaningful employment. I've been privileged to see the reality and the practical effect of this in countless lives. When you lift people up so that they can see over the horizon, when they earn their first pay cheque, and when they see that they can independently support their family and take part in all the advantages of 21st century life, the transformation is truly amazing. This is why I'm proud to be part of a government that's created 1.3 million jobs since coming into office—a government which is overseeing an economy that will create 1.25 million jobs over the next five years.

Our promise on this side of the chamber is to do everything we can to get people off welfare and into jobs, but that doesn't fit within the narrow ideology of those opposite. We believe in individualism, opportunity and, importantly, personal responsibility, whilst providing support for those who need it most. They believe only in policies which recognise collectivism, enable intergenerational dependence, create extortionate cost-of-living pressures and kill industries which drive the national economy. The Morrison government is focused on growing the economy, getting more people into work and delivering a well-targeted social security system that is funded through a strong budget.

The topic of this debate is nothing more than a cruel hoax on the part of the Greens. If they really want to deliver for those they claim to represent they would be working with us to ensure a strong economy, not working against us. Work with us to drop the cost of living; work with us to grow the economy; and work with us to get more Australians off welfare and into work.

Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Surviving below the poverty line is a reality for millions of Australians. In Australia, the poverty line is $433 for a single adult living alone or $909 a week for a couple with two kids. When you think about the basic payments that you make each week for rent, bills, groceries and petrol, $433 would barely see you make ends meet. But over three million people in Australia are currently living on less than this, including 739,000 children. The holiday season can be a pretty stressful and isolating time if you don't have a lot of money. If you don't have a lot of money, it's basically impossible to find extra money for Christmas presents or decorations or lunch. So at this time of year, while lots of us are counting down the days to the holiday season and looking forward to spending time with family and friends, too many people on low incomes, including Newstart and youth allowance recipients, find themselves feeling anxious, stressed and isolated.

You'd think that might be a priority for a government that's in search of an agenda. You'd think that implementing a real plan for the economy and providing Australians with the services and support that they need to lift them out of poverty might be an opportunity for the government. That's not what we've got. The Morrison government is actually planning further cuts to Newstart. Just yesterday, the government's social security integrity bill passed the House of Representatives. There's that word 'integrity' again. It's funny, isn't it? The government loves to talk about integrity. Why is it that, under the people over there, integrity only applies to working people, poor people and middle-income people. It certainly doesn't seem to apply to Minister Taylor, it certainly doesn't seem to apply to the Attorney-General and it certainly doesn't seem to apply to Mr Morrison.

This bill will cut Newstart by doubling the liquid assets waiting time from three months to six months. That means Australian workers who are made redundant with $18,000 in liquid assets will be forced to wait six months before they can access income support. That isn't a lot of money, not if you need to stretch it out over six months and not if you need to look after children or other family members.

These changes will disproportionately impact middle-aged and older workers who've recently been made redundant and people who live in regional areas where unemployment is higher than the national average. Imagine Joan, the kind of person I meet a lot, a 55-year-old woman who's been made redundant from her job in regional New South Wales. It's pretty difficult if you're an older woman to find a new job in regional New South Wales. And this woman's liquid assets total $18,000, but her assets actually aren't money just sitting in the bank waiting for her to get it out. She's previously lent money to her children and she's owed money from a previous job, and that all counts. She's left now with no income because she's been made redundant, and she needs some support. She has worked her entire life. She's paid taxes. She's never accessed social security. But she's not going to get support from the government under their proposed arrangements. I tell you what: her story would not be uncommon. In fact, her story is very common, because half of all Newstart recipients are 45 years or older and 25 per cent of people on Newstart are over 55. Last month at Senate estimates, the department fessed up that the government's proposed six-month waiting period will impact 10,000 Australian workers each year for the next four years—that is 40,000 Australian workers.

What is this about? Australians are doing it tough. Wages are stagnant. Jobs are less secure. This is a cut to the safety net, and it is a low blow. And, once again, it demonstrates a government that is completely out of touch. I look at the senators opposite and I wonder how often the senators opposite do go and speak to people in regional Australia, do hear their stories, do hear their anxieties, do hear their worries—I really do. I wonder how you could contemplate supporting legislation of this kind that is so cruel, because the government continues to run a cruel and inhumane agenda. It is entrenching millions of people in poverty, and, with the holiday season approaching, it is time for the Morrison government to show some compassion and some leadership and deliver some much-needed support to the people who need it.

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You lot are nothing but grinches working overtime to steal the joy right out of people's lives. Prime Minister Morrison has nothing but 'Bah! Humbug!' to say to people who are doing it tough this Christmas. We know that there are people who are struggling to put food on the table and who are struggling to keep a roof over their heads. And what is this government giving them for Christmas? Nothing, zilch, zero.

We learned just last week that people on Newstart and youth allowance are being forced to suffer shocking levels of deprivation. A joint survey by the National Union of Students, YOUNG Campaigns and the Australian Council of Social Services found that over 60 per cent of young people on Newstart or youth allowance are left with just $14 a day after paying rent. Young people are being forced to live in poverty.

Take Harry Holbrook, for example, who works as a waiter in Potts Point while studying at the University of New South Wales. He pays $255 per week towards rent in his share house. After paying rent, he has, depending on his work schedule, between $150 to $200 a week left for everything from food and bills to uni expenses. Harry says, 'Even between the two—work and youth allowance—it’s pretty unliveable.' How can we let our young people down so badly?

We know, of course, that the low rate of Newstart and youth allowance has forced people to couch surf and live in all sorts of unstable accommodation, teetering just on the edge of homelessness. More than nine in 10 skip meals, and over one-third have had to withdraw from their studies because of lack of funds. It is actually physically impossible to live a healthy life on Newstart and youth allowance. That is the state of affairs in our country, and it's absolutely shameful. This government's wicked stubbornness in not increasing Newstart and youth allowance means they are pushing already vulnerable, already struggling, people further and further away from training and studies, and further and further away from any semblance of a good life. People on Newstart are almost seven times more likely to suffer poor health and are up to twice as likely to end up in hospital as compared to wage earners. It is clear that the low rate of Newstart is making people sick. They do not have the quality of life and health that everyone deserves. In real terms, Newstart hasn't seen an increase since the mid-1990s—that's how long it has been.

As the holiday season approaches, it is extraordinary that the Prime Minister continues to talk up compassion—albeit a conservative variety of compassion—while displaying the exact opposite. This is a display of complete and utter hypocrisy that is not uncharacteristic of the Liberal-National party, I have to say. What a heartless bunch you are—draining every bit of joy from people on welfare as we approach Christmas. You are grinches.

Jim Molan (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The matter of urgency that we're addressing today, brought on under the name of Senator McKim and spoken to by a number of other people, is that people on Newstart and youth allowance do not enjoy the same Christmas spirit as other Australians enjoy and struggle during the summer holidays due to the low rates of payment and the government's so-called punitive compliance program. What an absolute and unmitigated travesty of a motion. What about those affected by the fires and the droughts who actually pay for Newstart and youth allowance? What about their Christmases? Here we are focusing on these people, but what about the people who pay for Newstart and for youth allowance?

First, let me refute this motion's assertion that the compliance system that surrounds Newstart and youth allowance is punitive. It is not. It is appropriate when dealing with public money. That's what it needs to be, when dealing with public money, and it can be applied compassionately. Newstart and youth allowance, along with home care packages, age pensions, disability allowances and the NDIS, form the basis of our social welfare system, which supports those less fortunate in our society. And no-one is saying that it's easy to live without a job. It's also not easy to live if you're affected by drought and by fire. But it's not the point of such allowances—allowances which are paid for by taxpayers, of course—to make Christmas and the holidays more pleasant for those without jobs. This fact undercuts any validity in the proposition of the motion in Senator McKim's name, but, of course, that's never been a particular concern of the Greens.

Senator McKim and the Greens understand that Newstart was never meant to be a salary or wage replacement. It's a safety net, as Senator O'Sullivan said. It's a safety net for people, while they are looking for work. It's not as though over the Christmas and holiday period—which Senator McKim is so worried about, as others are worried about their farms and their homes—the recipients of Newstart allowance should totally cease looking for a job. That's not the intention, although obviously the opportunities will be less over that period. But of course, as we who live in the real world know, over the Christmas or festive period—or whatever Senator McKim would like to call it—irregular and part-time work is available, obviously.

As most people know, everyone who receives Newstart is also eligible for some form of additional assistance from the welfare system. It is duplicitous to infer what Senator McKim is inferring in this motion. It's incumbent on government to ensure the sustainability and fairness of the welfare system, including being fair to the taxpayers who pay for it. As I said before, Newstart allowance is just one of the elements of the system of support that government offers to Australians doing it tough. Our broader payment system—jobactive and other services—make up $170 billion plus; this is the money that the government spends on social security and welfare every single year. The Morrison government is delivering job opportunities. We know that. We are providing pathways and breaking down barriers for people on welfare and managing the budget to ensure the sustainability of the welfare system into the future, and that is absolutely critical.

There are any number of programs to encourage people into work, like Try, Test and Learn and individual placement support. These operate for part, at least, of the so-called festive, Christmas and holiday seasons. But let's not forget that two-thirds of recipients of Newstart are transitioned off Newstart in the first 12 months. It is a transition allowance because the aim of government is to get people back to work, because the best form of welfare is a job. We do everything we can to get people off Newstart and into a job—at Christmas, during holidays or whenever. To bring this up now is nothing other than a cruel hoax on the part of the Greens; and, as Senator O'Sullivan said, it is classical, unfunded empathy. Let's never forget that few countries provide the strong safety net that we enjoy. Australia has one of the most targeted welfare systems in the world.

Newstart is a non-contributory, taxpayer funded allowance that, as I said before—and this should be the most important takeaway from this debate—provides a safety net for people while they look for a job. It's increased twice a year every year, in line with the CPI. It is not a wage replacement, nor is it a Christmas gift. We are a compassionate government, as our border and immigration policies show. We recognise there are times when people need a safety net to help them when they're down on their luck, be it at Christmas or at any other time of the year, but, because it's funded by taxpayers, it needs to be managed responsibly. Newstart is managed appropriately, responsibly and not punitively.

Let's face it: we also have a responsibility to future generations who will have to meet the cost of the system in the decades to come. It's not Newstart or youth allowance recipients who are the sole focus of this issue. Of course, the government's position on Newstart and, indeed, the Prime Minister's position is very, very clear: the best form of welfare is a job, and the government is absolutely focused on getting people off welfare and into work. The Greens, in bringing forward this motion, know that the Morrison government is delivering job opportunities, providing pathways and breaking down barriers for people on welfare. And, as the Greens well and truly know, this government has seen the largest increase in jobs since the global financial crisis, with over 1.4 million jobs created since we were elected. Stronger labour market conditions are encouraging more people to enter the labour market, with the participation rate at 66 per cent compared to a 10-year average of 65.2 per cent. Against this backdrop, Australia's unemployment rate has declined to 5.3 per cent and is below the 10-year average of 5.5 per cent. This is the success we are having as a government.

So, really, this motion is inventing a problem. As far as I can see, the 2019-20 budget forecasts employment growth to be solid over the next few years, though the rate of growth is expected to be a little lower and to moderate to 1.75 per cent in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Just think about this, those who are advocating this approach to Newstart: there are 333,000 fewer working-age recipients of income support payments between 14 June and 19 June because they have a job. In addition, as at 18 June, the proportion of Australians receiving working-age income support payments has fallen to its lowest level in 30 years at 14.3 per cent. We will continue to invest in programs such as jobactive and disability employment services to help people get and keep a job, even over the festive season and the Christmas period. And, as those who proposed this motion know perfectly well, everyone who receives Newstart is eligible for some form of additional assistance from the welfare system as well.

We should never forget that about one-third of the Commonwealth's budget is spent on welfare. Accordingly, as I've said a number of times, government has a responsibility to taxpayers to ensure that welfare is targeted and is sustainable. Social services, as we know, touch almost all Australians at some stage in their life. The safety net provided for the most vulnerable amongst us is particularly important, and is why it is crucial that the system remains sustainable. If there is one takeaway from this debate, it should be that Newstart should never be seen as an incentive not to work. There are jobs out there, if people are willing to take them. Newstart is only meant as a stopgap measure for people to access when they are looking for a job and transitioning from one job to another job, and that applies whether it is Christmas, the festive season, the holiday period or any other time of the year. The best form of welfare is not to increase Newstart; the best form of welfare is a Christmas job. (Time expired)

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For Senator Molan's information, there are two million Australians either looking for work or looking for more work. I think that contribution has just demonstrated very clearly how out of touch this government is and these senators are, because trying to live on youth allowance or Newstart is not about living a normal life; it's about trying to survive.

The member for Cook, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, is the grinch who is stealing Christmas this year from thousands of Australians. This year, he's also targeted another 40,000 Australians with cuts to Newstart. This is the same Prime Minister who, after the election in May this year, said that what Australia needed was more love. Well, he's demonstrated no love for people who are trying to look for work and trying to survive on Newstart. He has also attacked the very people who were trying to make ends meet on their penalty rates because he has also cut them.

We know that those opposite don't know, don't care and don't understand what it's like counting up your coins before you go to the supermarket. They don't understand that you have to budget day to day and week to week if you're on Newstart just to pay for some of the essential things, like food, petrol and your everyday living expenses. Those opposite, after all, are the party that said, 'Poor people don't drive cars.' And who can forget, 'If you need to save for a home loan, just get a loan from your parents.' These are the views that are in the DNA of those on the government benches. That's their attitude.

Time and time again they come in here and lecture people to 'just go and get a job'. Well, in my home state of Tasmania we are losing jobs. Not only are we losing jobs week by week, but our wages are actually going backwards! They're going backwards in my home state. So don't come in here and lecture us about how putting up a motion like this to be debated is a stunt. These motions do need to be debated. There are far too many Australians who need more work. They're already in the workforce, but they need more hours. Those people opposite have done nothing about the casualisation of the workforce in this country. There are around 470,000 Australians who are long-term unemployed—that is, they've been on Newstart for more than 12 months. It's totally unacceptable.

Those opposite are unable to create jobs. They talk about jobs—leading into the last election, it was 'jobs, jobs, jobs!'—but what have they delivered? Nothing for the Australian people. On this side of the chamber, Labor will always stand up for those people who are doing it tough in this country because we understand how hard it is to try to manage on $14 a day. I know full well that those people on that side have no empathy and no understanding about the real world. We saw that so clearly demonstrated in the contribution by the previous speaker, Senator Molan.

We also know that age discrimination is a big issue in this country. People of mature age who have been made redundant find themselves, quite unexpectedly, in unemployment lines and having to try and survive on Newstart. What's this government doing about that? Absolutely nothing. We have people on disability, and the government comes in here and lectures about that. How many people with a disability are actually employed by this federal government? Those people talk the talk but they can't walk the walk. What we need is some leadership. That's what we need in this country, but we've seen no economic plan, no plan to create more jobs. What we've seen is this government under this Prime Minister, and former prime ministers Abbott and Turnbull, attacking the most vulnerable people in our community: those who need protection. Newstart is there as a safety net, but their net is full of holes. If the Prime Minister wants to do something for the people in this country so that we can move forward together, he needs to create an economic plan. He needs to create the economic circumstances so that jobs can be created, not what's happening in my home state of Tasmania, where we have long-term unemployed in my home state who need a helping hand; they need help to get a job and to get back into the workforce.

Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Three million Australians live in poverty. That's one out of every six children. For people struggling against poverty, struggling to make ends meet on Newstart, Christmas is transformed from a time of joy and celebration and togetherness to one of isolation and frustration and shame. Christmas is the time when it so often seems that our society turns into a mirror in which your reflection is seen and in which is cast upon you all the things you are told you should be able to provide for your family, that you should be able to give to your friends yet can't. And that is turned into something that you yourself have done wrong, though you may be applying for every last job you can find, though you may be competing with hundreds of members of your community to get that one part-time, casual retail job which falls through. Upon that turns your entire festive season. The struggle to know where the next meal is coming from, the struggle to know how you're going to make the sums add up so that you can afford to go to the doctors, so that you can travel a couple of hours to see friends or neighbours—all of these issues are made so much worse at Christmas time. Poverty comes home to bite in a real way.

This year, this government has had an opportunity that is afforded to very few governments, the opportunity to take a bipartisan step forward in the alleviation of poverty. Everyone agrees that Newstart is too low. From the Australian Council of Social Service to John Howard to Barnaby Joyce and everybody in between, everyone agrees Newstart must be raised, yet this government has stubbornly, arrogantly, cold-heartedly held out against the tide of history. They should go back to their electorates this Christmas ashamed of themselves, ashamed that they rejected the opportunity to act and help those who need help, help those who are struggling against a social safety net with far too many holes in it.

Finally, I would like to pay tribute to one of my colleagues in this place. There are so many who have contributed so much to the campaign to raise Newstart. It has been a whole-of-community campaign. I am proud to have been and to be a member of a party which has led that campaign. I am proud to be part of communities that have come together to bring forward the urgent need to raise Newstart. And I am particularly proud to work alongside my colleague, Rachel Siewert, who has, on this issue and on so many other issues, been the moral guiding compass of this chamber. She has worked as I have never seen any other person work to bring about this consensus and to bring to the fore this issue, giving us an opportunity for change—an opportunity which this government must now take up. There can be no ifs and no buts: we must raise the rate.

Jess Walsh (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am grateful to have the opportunity to talk on this issue and to contribute to the debate about Newstart and the youth allowance, because it is an incredibly important issue for so many Australians who find themselves on Newstart right now and who are struggling to make ends meet.

It's true that that struggle is all the more difficult over the summer holidays and Christmas, because that's when people really feel the gaps between the haves and the have-nots. It's hard to enjoy the festive season when you're finding it hard to pay the bills, when you're finding it hard to put food on the table and when, on top of that, you're worrying that your kids are going to miss out on the experience that you really want to give them at this time of year. If you're on Newstart right now then you're living on a payment that is well below the poverty line.

There is no doubt in my mind that the rate of Newstart needs to be raised. It needs to be increased right now. There is no doubt in the Labor Party that Newstart needs to be increased. So it's difficult, at this time of year, to avoid calling out this government for its scrooge-like behaviour. Here we are, only a few weeks from Christmas, so let's talk about what this government now has on its agenda. It has cuts to Newstart that will impact 40,000 Australian people who find themselves without work at this time of year. This is really the opposite of what people falling on tough times need to see from this government. They need to see some support and they need to see an increase to Newstart payments, not a cut.

Of course, we're not alone, on this side of the chamber, in calling for an increase to Newstart. There are a whole range of community organisations and supporters—former political leaders, economists, the Reserve Bank governor, Deloitte and numerous charities and advocacy groups—who are calling for an increase to Newstart. And while everyone else is thinking about Christmas, those on the government benches are looking to cut Newstart for hard-up Australians—40,000 Australians. I'm talking about their proposed changes to the liquid assets waiting time. They want to change that from three months to six months, and that is really going to increase the pressure on Australians who have just lost their jobs.

If a worker is made redundant and they have $18,000 in liquid assets, they will be forced to wait for six months before being able to access Newstart under the government's proposed changes, and $18,000 is just not a lot of money to live on over six months. In fact, doing this will mean that people who are in that situation will have to use up the only financial buffer that is now standing between them and poverty when they lose their job, it will mean that people won't have money for emergencies and it will mean that people will really be in trouble if a member of their family gets sick or their car breaks down. Doing this at a time when, on this government's watch, we're seeing an increase in insecure work, stagnant wage growth and an ever-increasing cost of living is really a grinch-like move from this government.

If the government don't want to look after Australians who fall on hard times—and often, it must be said, after decades of paying their taxes—then what are their priorities? Last month, Westpac, one of the major banks, was accused of breaking money-laundering laws 23 million times. What did the government do about that? What did the government say needed to be done? Nothing. 'That can just sit with the board.' The rampant wage theft that we're seeing sweeping across the nation? Still waiting for a government response on that.

Instead, the government are far more concerned about penalising people who fall on hard times, attacking low-income Australians and demonising social security recipients. There is a whole list of the government's efforts in those regards, whether it's their refusal to raise Newstart, despite the fact that it hasn't risen in decades and despite the mounting calls in the community; the indiscriminate and demeaning drug tests that they're planning to roll out to people who are receiving social security; the cashless debit cards that they want to expand that exclude people from being able to participate meaningfully in their local communities; their constant attacks on Australian workers and trade unions; or now, at this time of the year, more cuts to Newstart. At a time when more people than ever before are calling for an increase to Newstart, the government wants to cut it. What does this government have against Australians who are on low incomes or who rely on social security? This government's priorities are all wrong. They are focusing on the wrong people.

People on Newstart and youth allowance actually need the rate to be increased because it's too low. This is meant to be a temporary payment, yet we know that recipients are spending an average of three years on Newstart. That has nothing to do with people not working hard enough or not having a go, as Prime Minister Morrison so often loves to say. Let's look at the fact that the jobs aren't there. There are 1.9 million Australians who are underemployed or unemployed. They want to work and they want to work more, but the jobs just aren't there for them. Newstart is compounding that problem for them because it's so low that it's often preventing people from getting work. Newstart is stopping people from having a go and it's trapping people in poverty, because you cannot live on $40 a day. It doesn't cover the cost of living, your rent, your food, your bills and the additional costs of looking for work, like appropriate clothing, access to the internet and transport to interviews. That is a really long way for $40 a day to stretch.

At this time of the year, when so many Australians are enjoying the festive season, looking forward to Christmas with their families and looking forward to exchanging gifts and sharing a special meal, how is $40 a day supposed to stretch even further? The Newstart rate excludes people from fully enjoying the holiday period and also excludes them from wider society. The Prime Minister has previously said that the harder you work the better you do. Essentially, what he was saying was that if you're stuck on Newstart, if you're poor or if you're struggling it must be your own fault; perhaps try a little bit harder. That really couldn't be further from the truth. That sort of statement really shows us where this government's priorities lie.

This is a Prime Minister who is doing nothing to tackle poverty in our country. Thirteen per cent of Australians are living below the poverty line, many of them on Newstart. That's three million people, including over 700,000 children living in poverty today. These are children who often don't have secure homes or enough to eat. It really doesn't need to be this way. The government could help hundreds of thousands of Australians and their families if they showed some compassion and raised the Newstart rate, but this is a government that absolutely lacks compassion, and we've seen that time after time, decision after decision.

In a lot of classic Christmas stories, the scrooge or the grinch characters, who start off as selfish, greedy and uninterested in the plight of others, quite often redeem themselves by the end of the story by seeing the error of their ways. Will that happen with this government? Unfortunately, given the government's track record, I think we're going to need a Christmas miracle for them to see the error of their ways and to increase Newstart. No family should have to struggle, particularly at this time of year. The government should show some compassion.

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time for the discussion as expired.