Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to note International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day on 15 October. I'm pleased that earlier this year we moved that the Senate itself recognises this day. This recognition builds on the work of our 2018 Senate inquiry where we heard devastating evidence about the six babies who are stillborn in Australia every day. Our inquiry learned how First Nations peoples and peoples from diverse communities have much higher rates of stillbirth and how listening to women's experiences and voices can make such a difference to medical outcomes.

The government adopted the recommendations of our inquiry, and it is good to note the progress that's been made in implementing them. It is critical that this progress continue, because stillbirth is a tragedy. My heart goes out to everyone who has experienced losing a baby. I thank those in this chamber and in the community who have taken the time this week to note the day, to share stories and to reach out to those of us have experienced stillbirths. The loss of my daughter Rose, 26 years ago, will never leave me. Supporting each other and sharing our stories and taking the action we can to help reduce the rate of stillbirth is truly life-saving work.

This week is Anti-Poverty Week, an opportunity to learn more about the experiences of poverty in Australia, and no-one need more of an education on this issue than our Prime Minister, Mr Scott Morrison. I recently heard from Melissa, a 39-year-old woman from Adelaide who is on JobSeeker. She lives with chronic illnesses and severe mental health issues that make it incredibly difficult for her to work. She has been relying on JobSeeker for many years. She told me: 'I have absolutely no savings at all. Basically you just have to wish for the best—that the fridge doesn't break or that you don't need new shoes. Anything like that puts a strain on the budget.' Every day millions of Australians like Melissa are being forced to make choices that no-one should ever have to make. Do you buy food or medication? Do you choose keeping a roof over your head or having shoes that don't have holes in them?

But it doesn't have to be this way. Last year, when people started receiving the COVID supplement, we finally saw what it could be like if we designed our economy to work for everyone, not just the megawealthy few. For Melissa, receiving the COVID supplement transformed her life. She told me: 'A lot of amazing things actually happened to me. I didn't need iron infusions, because I could actually afford to eat properly. It is actually life-changing. It's being able to do things. It was the first time in five years I was able to buy a winter coat.' It shouldn't be like that. People should be able to buy winter clothing. But, once again, the government has left Melissa and hundreds of thousands like her out in the cold, plunging the rate of JobSeeker back to a measly $44 a day. Poverty is a political choice. It's a policy choice. Prime Minister Scott Morrison is choosing to abandon his citizens. He is choosing to trap them in a cycle of property. He is choosing to give tax cuts to billionaires instead of raising the rate of JobSeeker above the bloody poverty line.

This morning I read in Foodbank's annual Foodbank Hunger Report that one in six Australian adults haven't had enough to eat in the last year. On top of this, 1.2 million children have gone hungry in this period. The two main reasons reported for food insecurity were unexpected expenses and overall low income. Why is it that we live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, yet adults and children go hungry due to financial insecurity? It's because the Morrison government has made a deliberate choice to keep people on JobSeeker below the poverty line. They don't care that people are literally starving because of that choice. Research shows that, unlike in 2007, when jobseekers were typically able-bodied young men looking for work, people on JobSeeker today are likely to be older, to be women and, importantly, to have only a partial capacity to work due to chronic illness or disability. They are people like Melissa—people who shouldn't be demonised by their own government.

It's not right, and it does not have to be this way. I call on the Australian government to permanently raise the rate of JobSeeker above the poverty line—to at least $80 a day—and to end this cycle of poverty once and for all.