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

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) on 1 April 2021 the Morrison Government will force people looking for work, students, and single parents back to payments of $40 a day, condemning millions in our community to live well below the poverty line, 500,000 of which are children,

(ii) the Government introduced tax cuts for millionaires, but are now refusing to properly support the more than 1.3 million people out of work while the pandemic continues,

(iii) with the big banks ending mortgage holidays and state-based eviction moratoriums lifting, thousands of Australians are at risk of losing the roof over their heads, going without essential medications or food on the table, and

(iv) returning JobSeeker to $40 a day will only further entrench poverty, diminishing people's capacity to participate fully and meaningfully in our community; and

(b) calls on the Government to urgently commit to a permanent and ongoing increase to the Jobseeker Payment and Youth Allowance before the Coronavirus Supplement ends on 31 March 2021 to ensure all Australians can live in dignity and not in poverty.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government has extended payment of the coronavirus supplement for a further three months from 1 January 2021, at a cost of $3.2 billion, to provide additional temporary support to Australians impacted by the pandemic. The extension of the coronavirus supplement and a range of enhanced eligibility criteria within the social services system complement the $251 billion in direct economic support already committed to by the government and the government's priorities to get Australians back to work.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Sue Lines (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One Nation will be supporting this motion. It is true that the JobSeeker COVID supplement was set so high that it provided a disincentive to work. Once the rate reverts next month, JobSeeker will be too low for the unemployed to live on. This will make finding a job harder, not easier—$282 a week is not work incentive; it's punishment. If increasing JobSeeker temporarily to the ridiculous amount of $550 a week was good economic policy to assist the recovery, a much smaller permanent increase must also be good policy. The Morrison government's opposition to an increase in JobSeeker and pensions makes no sense. It's an embarrassment to conservatives, and I urge the government to reconsider. While this motion does not put a figure on the desired increase, One Nation supports a $75 a week increase in JobSeeker and pensions effective immediately.

Question agreed to.