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

I rise this afternoon to talk about the JobSeeker payment. It breaks my heart that the Morrison government has not ruled out dropping the JobSeeker payment back to $40 per day, way below the poverty line, at the end of December. At the end of September, in fact, the government is dropping the coronavirus supplement by $300 to $250 a fortnight, which will have a very significant impact on people's ability to pay their rent or mortgage, to pay essential bills and to put food on the table. This uncertainty is having a huge effect on people. I consider it reckless, unfair and fiscally irresponsible for the government not to be telling people what is happening with the JobSeeker payment.

Australia gave a sigh of relief when the government effectively doubled the rate of JobSeeker with the coronavirus supplement, relieving the unnecessary desperation and suffering that people in our community feel when they're forced to live on $40 a day—single mothers going without meals so they could feed their children, people choosing between their medication or dinner and those people living in unsafe situations because there were no rental properties that they could afford to live in when they were living so far below the poverty line on $40 a day. It also of course ensured that those who were losing their job due to the pandemic could live above the poverty line.

Since the JobSeeker payment was increased with the coronavirus supplement, I've been hearing from people about what they are doing with the increase—eating fresh food, paying their bills, looking after their health, buying medication and planning for their future. Today ACOSS reported that more than 80 per cent of community service workers who were surveyed about the coronavirus supplement said that the increased rates of income support were having a positive impact on the lives of the people they helped.

Nationally, the unemployment rate sits at a 22-year high of 7.5 per cent. The effective unemployment rate sits at 9.9 per cent, and Treasury predicts it will reach 13 per cent by December. This figure is a better representation of unemployment in our country, because the effective unemployment rate includes people who have worked zero hours and those who have dropped out of the labour market altogether.

When the rate of JobSeeker payment is cut by $300 a fortnight at the end of September, what will the millions of people out of work do? They need to survive, yet they're being forced below the poverty line. I must ask: what impact will this have on the economy?

The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, recently said, 'If people are in jobs, they don't need income support.' Of course, there is the old classic, 'The best form of welfare is a job.' These statements miss the point and are like saying, 'If people aren't sick, they don't need hospitals.' The unfortunate truth is that this health and economic crisis will not be over at the end of September. It will not be over in December. Millions of unemployed Australians need an adequate amount of money with which to eat and pay their rent or mortgage.

The pre-COVID-19 JobSeeker rate of $40 a day does not support an acceptable minimum standard of living. It is poverty. How can the government even consider going back to that? It is unimaginable and unthinkable that we could drop people back to $40 a day. How can you not give millions of people in this country who will need to survive on the JobSeeker payment certainty that they won't go back to $40 a day? That not only is cruel to people but also will wreak havoc on our economy.

Next week, Anglicare will release a special update to their rental affordability snapshot. As I understand it, this will show that rental affordability has actually worsened for people on the lowest incomes. Price drops at the higher end of the market have had little benefit to people on low incomes. People in our community are so stressed and anxious about how they are going to pay their rent and their mortgage come September and particularly come December. The Australia Institute estimates that when the government cuts the rate of the JobSeeker payment in September, 270,000 people who have mortgages or are renting will be forced into poverty. It is shameful that this government is willing to oversee hundreds of thousands of Australians being pushed into poverty for the first time all in the name of ideology, and that's what it is. What a terrible way to start 2021 with millions defaulting on their mortgage and rent—in other words, becoming homeless.

The government's plan to reintroduce the liquid assets waiting period in September will force unemployed Australians into precarious situations. They will have to wear down their savings before being able to access income support. This will leave many people without a critical lifeline to fall back on because their savings will be eroded.

While people are anxiously waiting to find out whether JobSeeker will drop to $40 a day, they are also facing the reintroduction of mutual obligations. At the moment, you can only be penalised for failing to accept a suitable job. This hasn't stopped employment service providers resorting to predatory practices and behaviour and exploiting unemployed workers. We are still hearing reports of employment service providers forcing people to attend appointments, to sign off on job plans that are inappropriate and that they have had no say in and to undertake unpaid work trials.

This crisis has put a giant spotlight on how poorly this government and past governments have treated people on income support. It should not have taken a global pandemic for our unemployment payment to be increased. The government's failure to deliver certainty to people on income support is cruel and unfair and undermines confidence in the economy. Keeping the JobSeeker payment above the poverty line will save people's lives and livelihoods. We should not be cutting the JobSeeker payment by $300 a fortnight; we should be continuing with the full supplement so that people have a liveable income. This is clearly a very significant issue and has a clear link to people's mental health.

There is a clear link between mental health and financial stress, and the government is contributing to the stress and anxiety in our community by not giving people certainty over their financial future. The government could make an additional significant investment in the mental health of 1.6 million people on JobSeeker by giving them certainty that it won't fall below the poverty line in December when people may be forced to be on $40 a day. This government needs to break its addiction to stigmatising and targeting people on income support. It's unacceptable to treat people like second-class citizens just because they are on income support. If you have been on the JobSeeker payment, there is no doubt in your mind that, in the past, the government treated you as a second-class citizen. Unfortunately, it seems to be where we are slipping back to right now.

The choices our government makes now to help us get through this crisis could set a better course for the future of our communities. We can and should choose to adequately support people impacted by the high unemployment rates. No income support payment should be below the poverty line. Not only is this a significant investment in people; it is a significant investment in our economy. If people have to default on their mortgages or on their rent, they become homeless. What impact do you think that is going to have on our economy? It's going to have a massive impact on our economy. How can we rebuild our economy if people are living in poverty and are homeless, when we know poverty, in itself, is a barrier to employment?

Cutting income support payments to those who need them most is a choice, not an inevitability. I never again want to see people in our community denied dignity and forced to live on $40 a day because the jobs simply aren't there. It is critical that we keep the coronavirus supplement at the current rate, not cut it by $300 a fortnight. People will be forced below the poverty line with that cut. Come December, it'll be further below the poverty line if we go to $40 a day. We need to treat people in this country with dignity. We need to make sure our income support system is fit for purpose.