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

As I have said time and time again in this place, poverty is a political choice. There are around five million people who receive some form of income support payment. How can recipients not be struggling on $48 a day on JobSeeker? We know that a third of Australian households are struggling just to put food on the table. All costs are rising except for the rate of income support payments. Everyday Australians are tired. They shouldn't need to rely upon the goodwill of their friends, families and charities just to get by.

This is all part of the neoliberal nonsense that will see more people worse off while corporate profits absolutely soar. The Labor government has ignored these calls and, in doing so, has left millions of people having to choose between paying the rent, essential medicines or eating three meals a day. There is nothing secure about our social security system. I hear that every day, as do my colleagues, from the constituents who are contacting us. I'd like to share an account from James, who contacted my office to share his experience in receiving the JobSeeker payment. James shared with us that for the last several years he has felt like he is barely existing: 'Most fortnights I starve for four days unless my family takes pity on me and gifts me some food. This is embarrassing, and my family struggles as well. It also creates tension and anxiety between us so I try to go without, but I need to keep up meals because of diabetes.'

James is not alone. My office receives daily emails from people on income support, people who simply do not know where their next meal is going come from or how they will pay for essential medications. Or they fear eviction due to skyrocketing rental costs. I'd like to share some evidence from an anonymous witness who spoke to a hearing of our Senate poverty inquiry last week. Every policymaker, every senator in this place, needs to hear this witness's story. Seven years ago, witness A unexpectedly became homeless as a result of domestic violence. Her life was threatened and so were her children's. When she went to a refuge with her children, her husband withdrew all the money from their joint bank account and started court proceedings against her. She has had to rely on church pantries for food. A lot of the church food banks asked intrusive questions and tried to sign up her children for evangelistic programs. When she said no to this the church refused to give her the food box she was there to collect.

Witness A shared that she had spent seven years of 'pretending to my kids that I'm not hungry, or that I've already eaten'. Her kids wear donated uniforms and the teachers get them in trouble for not wearing the right shoes. They pretend to her that they're doing okay. She has never paid less than 80 per cent of her income on housing, sometimes over 100 per cent. She's had to beg church authorities for emergency rental assistance. She's tried twice to go back to education, but had to leave both times because the income support she received wasn't enough. After her most recent experience with JobSeeker, she decided never to apply again. The interactions with Centrelink—verbal abuse, gaslighting and coercive control—reminded her of the abusive husband she had escaped from.

These people in our community have been punished by 10 years of a callous coalition government, and they were hoping that they would get more from a change of government. As we saw in Labor's first budget last year, however, these people continue to be chastised by a Labor government which professes to speak for the people but is taking no real action to help them. Minister Rishworth has stated that social services are central to the Albanese Labor government's vision to create a better future for all Australians and to leave no-one behind; however, Treasurer Chalmers continues to assure us that there is no room in the budget to raise JobSeeker. Yet Labor found plenty of room in the budget to give another $9,000 a year per person in tax cuts to billionaires, to the ultrawealthy and to everybody earning over $200,000 a year—who absolutely do not need that tax cut! Every single one of us in this place will receive a $9,000 a year tax cut. I don't need this tax cut and I don't think any of you do either.

In the same breath, Labor scoffs at the idea of raising JobSeeker above the poverty line. There's nothing laughable about this. The most vulnerable people in our community need financial support. You cannot claim to tackle the spiralling cost of living by abandoning those who need support while lining the pockets of those who earn over $200,000 a year.

To the people of Australia, like James, like Witness A, all those who are on income support and are struggling to pay for rent, food, fuel, education, child care and bills in this cost-of-living crisis, please know, it is not your fault. You deserve so much better than what you are receiving from the government. The Greens will continue to fight for you, inside and outside of the parliament, until we no longer need to raise this in the parliament. The Greens believe that the foundation of a socially just society requires the provision of a guaranteed liveable income so that everyone has enough to meet their needs—not just those who won in the lottery of life.

I'm calling on Minister Rishworth and Treasurer Chalmers to listen to real stories, from people like James and Witness A, and to genuinely hear what they are saying. People who share their stories have devoted their valuable time and energy. Don't let it be in vain. No-one should have to skip meals just to get by, not in one of the wealthiest countries in the world like Australia. It's clear that our social safety net is broken. Poverty is a political choice being made by both major parties. Now, more than ever, we need to raise the rate of income support to at least $88 a day, abolish punitive mutual obligations and provide earlier access to the pension at age 65. This is the only way that we can tackle the cost-of-living crisis and support those most impacted.

I also want to take the opportunity today to, particularly, mention an important issue that's been raised with me by a number of constituents and the National Council of Single Mothers and their Children: the problem with our child support system. In 2019, the Swinburne University of Technology and the National Council of Single Mothers and their Children released a report entitled Debts and disappointment: mothers' experiences of the child support system. That report notes that the Australian child support system transfers money to approximately 1.2 million children, and, importantly, the report builds on the survey of hundreds of respondents. The survey and the results summarised in the report show that there are clear problems that need urgent action.

The report found that the national child support debt severely harms families. These hardships were often exacerbated by the Centrelink benefits system, particularly through the interactions of the family tax benefit. There are devastating impacts on families, particularly single mothers, when the child support payment is unpaid, late, sporadic and/or partial. Children miss out on social and educational experiences. There are also health impacts, as kids may miss out on medical appointments, particularly specialist appointments, if their parents—usually their mothers—are struggling to cover costs. There are impacts on the parents as well. As the report notes, recurring findings pointed to concerning health, emotional and wellbeing impacts that went beyond economic insecurity, manifesting in anxiety and a sense of being continuously let down by the system that was instituted to support them and their families.

I want to thank the advocates who have raised this important issue, and the constituents who've been raising it with me and other members of parliament directly. We hear you. Your voices are important and you deserve better—with a system that was left to grind to a halt after a decade of Liberal neglect. We need to see urgent action from the government. I know this is something that advocates and constituents have been raising directly with government. We will continue to raise it as well and to urge the government to act. The system cannot continue in crisis. It is just too important for that.