Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speech incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech read as follows—

This Bill seeks to amend the qualification criteria for the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment as outlined in the Social Security Act 1991.

In recent years we have seen more intense floods, cyclones, bushfires and storms. These disasters have taken a physical, emotional and financial toll on all Australians. Communities have been destroyed. Homes, and tragically, lives have been lost.

Ensuring that individuals across Australia are supported in the aftermath of these disasters is critical to the recovery of communities.

The Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment, or AGDRP, is one of many support mechanisms the Australian Government provides to disaster-affected communities. The AGDRP provides short term, one-off financial assistance to eligible Australians.

It offers a helping hand in the immediate aftermath of a disaster, and has assisted tens of thousands of impacted Australians in recent years.

The payment—$1000 per eligible adult and $400 per eligible child—is delivered by Services Australia. It helps with the purchase of essential items like food for the family, or to replace damaged household items, clothing, school items or toys—whatever is needed in the immediate aftermath of an event to help Australians and their families to recover.

This amendment will support faster and more efficient assessment of online claims for those who have been adversely affected by major disaster. This is achieved by legislating objective criteria on which to assess claims for AGDRP to support increased use of automatic decision-making.

It is critical that Services Australia can process claims quickly in the event of a major disaster. This amendment will help achieve that for Australian citizens and certain visa holders who have spent a particular amount of time in Australia, and/or care for a child or children who are adversely affected by a major disaster, before the major disaster is declared.

These amendments will support Services Australia to deliver payments to those who qualify for the payment within days, rather than weeks or months.

The amendment, if passed, will allow the Emergency Management Minister to determine, by notifiable instrument, an amount of time that an applicant must be in Australia before a major disaster to qualify for a payment. For now, the Government intends to require that a person must have been in Australia for 13 weeks of the last 19 weeks prior to the disaster.

This test ensures that support goes to Australians who are living here and contributing to their community. It is also consistent with the test used for some other payments under the Social Security Act.

The amendment also makes some changes to how the payable rate for AGDRP is calculated in respect of a person who qualifies for a payment and has a child, or children, in their care. These amendments are intended to support quicker processing of payments that include children.

These amendments are not intended to reduce or increase the number of individuals who are eligible for AGDRP.

This Bill makes amendments to facilitate faster processing of claims. It means a greater number of impacted Australians will be able to access financial support quickly after a major disaster.

The next High Risk Weather Season is due to begin in October. We bring this Bill to Parliament for its urgent consideration because we know that this is likely to be the first significant fire season since Black Summer. Disaster preparedness is critical to our democratic resilience and we're doing everything we can to be as prepared as possible at every level.

While the Seasonal Outlook predicts more fast-moving grass and scrub fires rather than the longer forest fires experienced in 2019-20, after a few seasons of intense rainfall and floods, we know that that these outlooks bring a lot of stress for communities.

Disasters will happen in this country. With climate change, weather conditions will become more extreme and disasters will happen more frequently. This is a reality we cannot ignore and we must be as prepared as possible for future events.

That is why this Government is committed to improving the way in which we deliver the assistance we provide.

This Bill is a further step in that process.

It provides the Government with greater ability to quickly and efficiently support communities affected by disasters, when the scale of disaster is such that Australian Government help—beyond that delivered by the state or territory government—is required.

The Australian Government stands ready to support disaster ravaged communities, providing the support they need to help them get back on their feet—and with this Bill—we are ensuring we provide that support as quickly as we possibly can.

I commend the Bill to the chamber.

Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to indicate the coalition's support for the Social Security Amendment (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment) Bill 2023. I will make some very brief comments on the bill. What this bill seeks to do is actually improve and streamline the processes for the very important disaster recovery payments that are provided as federal assistance in times of disaster, including the disaster recovery payments and the disaster recovery allowance, which is a key case in point. These payments are provided for through Services Australia, and I commend and thank Services Australia for their very efficient processing of applications in times of disaster. Often, for families impacted by natural disaster, these payments provide them with the capacity to put food back on the table after they've lost nearly everything.

I commend the government for undertaking a review of the processes and identifying where we can make the processes faster and more efficient—specifically allowing the minister to identify the time for which a person must have been living in Australia before they are eligible to be granted these payments—and also for addressing some anomalies in the formulae for how carers were dealt with under this bill. I commend the government for their work. We will be supporting this through the chamber.

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

I rise to speak to the Social Security Amendment (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment) Bill 2023. This bill will allow people who have been impacted by natural disasters to get support faster. Over the past years, Australia has witnessed how heatwaves, fires and floods are threatening lives and destroying communities. When people have had their lives and their communities disrupted by these events, it's often impossible for them to return to employment, and frequently people find themselves without the means to support themselves or their families, let alone rebuild their lives, which is why, of course, the disaster recovery payment is so important. Looking forward, we're expecting to have the most significant bushfire season since the Black Summer fires in 2019 and 2020, which poses an enormous risk to Australian communities. It is critical that people be able to access financial support like the government's disaster recovery payment during this time, which is why the Greens are supporting the fast passage of this bill.

This bill supports the automation of the process of accessing claims. I want to note that, while we support a faster process, we are always wary of automation in our social security system. We have had one robodebt. We cannot afford another one, which is why the Greens will be keeping a close eye on the automation process involved in processing the Australian government disaster recovery payment and we will continue to scrutinise it in our social security system.

The Greens know, however, that supporting people during natural disasters doesn't stop with a one-off payment. We must also support resilient communities, and a key way of doing that is ensuring that no-one is living in poverty and that people have access to adequate, safe and affordable housing, because natural disasters not only threaten lives but also have devastating consequences that extend beyond the immediate event. People find themselves displaced, struggling to make ends meet and facing the daunting task of rebuilding their lives.

As the chair of the Senate Community Affairs References Committee, in our inquiry into the extent and nature of poverty in Australia, I have heard story after story about the devastating impact of poverty on individuals and communities and the compounding impact that this has in the wake of natural disasters. In February this year, the inquiry heard from people in Lismore about the ongoing impacts of the devastating floods in 2022. During the inquiry, the committee heard from a range of local community services and organisations. We heard that, at the time, thousands of people who used to own or rent their homes before the flood crisis had since been left homeless or with inadequate housing. North Coast Community Housing told the committee that, at the time of the hearing, you could drive from Lismore up the highway to the Tweed, and at any one of those rest stops along the way you would see up to 20 or 30 cars each night with people sleeping in them.

We heard that rents have been rapidly rising in the region, making it even more difficult for people displaced by the floods to find safe, secure and affordable accommodation for themselves and their families. The inquiry also repeatedly heard how the inadequacy of income support payments is impacting people's abilities to survive before, during and after the floods. We've got to be looking after people, and not just with the immediate disaster relief payments. We have to have measures in place so that they are looked after well after the floods have gone. One Nimbin resident, Chibo, shared his story about the gruelling nature of being unemployed and having to survive on Centrelink. He said:

… I'm normally a very positive, joyful person who tries to inspire my community as well as the young people I do sports with. I have a positive, the-glass-is-half-full attitude. But I must say, I've never felt so mentally tortured as when I was unemployed, starting with Centrelink treating you like you're the last dirt from the street. Just coming into the whole situation—and I think a few people pointed it out in front of you here today—really impacts on your lifestyle, on your nutrition level, on anything. As soon as something goes 'pop' which wasn't being calculated for, like if you have a car and you have one tyre problem or something, that's $50 to $150, depending on the car and tyre size. That just throws you out while you were maybe saving up for getting the fridge repaired or something. It is such a stressful state.

Our inquiry highlighted the need for adequate social security, with many of those impacted by the Lismore floods left in long-term homelessness. Rents in the region have also been significantly increased, which, coupled with rising interest rates and a lack of rental caps, have priced many residents out of returning home. Additionally, of course, we know that so-called natural disasters are becoming more and more common due to the climate crisis, and we know that the costs of those natural disasters are being disproportionately borne by people living in poverty. Creating resilient communities means supporting people before and after natural disasters, and it means raising the rate of income support, abolishing mutual obligations and ensuring that our social services are well funded to deal with these kinds of disasters.

On climate, the climate crisis is putting lives at risk right now. We've got to be going far beyond just natural disaster relief payments. The science is clear: every tonne of coal and gas burnt increases the intensity and the speed of changes to our climate, which means more floods, more intense storms and more rainfall in already wet areas. Climate change is exacerbating the frequency and severity of natural disasters. The government, Labor, the Liberal Party and the Nationals can no longer keep their heads in the sand. Climate change is here, and we need to be taking the action that the science demands. That's no new coal and gas. It's reducing our carbon pollution by at least 75 per cent by 2030. Australia is facing climatic conditions we have never experienced before, with bushfires exacerbated by drought, higher temperatures and earlier and longer summers.

These so-called natural disasters are only going to get worse unless we take the urgent and appropriate action, the scientifically led action, to reduce our carbon pollution to zero as quickly as possible. The Australian government disaster recovery payment is undoubtedly a lifeline for those affected by natural disasters, but we must acknowledge it's also a reactive measure. To create truly resilient communities, we need to take a proactive approach. We need to stop the mining and burning of coal and gas and oil, otherwise all our lives are at risk. Future generations deserve to live not just on the lifeline of a disaster relief payment; they deserve a safe climate future. Australia must join world leaders and pledge to phase out coal and gas, and the huge subsidies that are propping up our fossil fuel corporations. There's still time to avert the worst of the crisis if we do this, which is why the Greens are calling for the government to increase natural disaster preparedness funding to $600 million a year and to fund $7.8 billion in renovation and home building grants to help local communities build and upgrade critical infrastructure that reduces natural disaster impacts.

Lifting funding for emergency services, and natural disaster preparedness and response, is a basic and essential step in building resilience. We need to see the decisive and immediate action to address climate stressors. We are in the midst of a climate emergency. Without an urgent reduction in our carbon pollution, we are risking catastrophe. To do nothing is to risk everything. Fossil fuels have to stay in the ground if we want any real hope of reducing emissions and preventing or reducing the number of natural disasters.

In conclusion, the Greens will be supporting the fast passage of this bill today in support of communities in which change is urgently needed. The housing and cost-of-living crises are only worsening and have been exacerbated in areas hit with climate disasters. People without adequate government support are struggling to make ends meet, let alone rebuild their communities. Communities across the country are facing dire circumstances in the middle of a climate crisis. Without affordable housing or sufficient Social Security, people on low incomes have zero capacity to recover from disasters. In supporting this bill today, I ask the government to see that poverty and climate are the clearly interconnected issues that they are. As well as taking this action of increasing the speed with which people can access disaster recovery payments, we need to be taking the bigger and proactive climate action to prevent further irreparable damage to our climate and our people.

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the senators who have contributed to this debate. The Social Security Amendment (Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment) Bill 2023 will amend the Social Security Act 1991 to ensure we can continue to support Australians when times are tough. The Australian government Disaster Recovery Payment offers a helping hand in the immediate aftermath of a major disaster and has assisted tens of thousands of impacted Australians in recent years. Ensuring that individuals across Australia are supported in the aftermath of these disasters is critical to the recovery of communities. The amendments proposed by this bill will provide the government with greater ability to quickly and efficiently support communities affected by disasters when the scale of the disaster requires Australian government assistance beyond that provided by the state or territory governments.

It is important that we get these changes in place before the next higher-risk weather season, which formally starts on 1 October 2023. Services Australia needs to be able to process claims quickly during disaster responses. The amendments proposed by the bill will help achieve that for Australian citizens and certain visa holders who have spent a period of time in Australia before the major disaster, and who care for a child or children who are adversely affected by major disasters. This bill deserves support, and I thank both the coalition and the Greens party, who have indicated support of this bill. I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.