Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the beginning of the committee stage, it's important that we engage with the substance of the bill before us, the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (More Support in the Safety Net) Bill 2024. Yet this bill is of extremely little substance. JobKeeper is a poverty payment. With rents soaring and groceries going through the roof, people on income support are increasingly hungry and homeless, and I think that it's a special kind of cruelty to force people into poverty, tell them you're doing what you can to help them and then have the government only offering a handful of payment increases. We are a wealthy country, and we should be increasing income support for people who are on the lowest incomes in the country and who, as Senator Pocock and Senator McKim said earlier, are not going to benefit from the stage 3 tax cuts that the government has been telling everybody that everybody is getting. Minister, do you think that people living on income support, which is well below the poverty line, should be forced to continue to live below the poverty line?

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

I'm a little bit offended by that question. Of course the Australian Labor government is doing everything that it can to ensure that targeted funding goes to where it is needed. This is a bill that shouldn't be viewed in isolation, and I went to great lengths, I thought, in my second reading contribution to talk about what the Albanese government has been doing over the last two budgets, since we got elected, to put in place targeted relief for people who are on the social services system.

I'll say this again: the measures that are in this bill build on the government's safety net measures in the last budget, which increased working-age and student payments by $40 a fortnight; expanded eligibility for the higher rate of JobSeeker; expanded parenting payment (single) to parents until their child turns 14; and increased the maximum rate of commonwealth rent assistance by 15 per cent.

As has been said in a number of the contributions so far today, the contribution that's in the bill before us builds on the 15 per cent contribution delivered in the last budget. There have been two rental assistance contributions in a row, which taken together amount to an increase of 40 per cent. I think Senator Allman-Payne is well aware of those commitments. As someone who has actually lived on unemployment benefits, I'm quite well aware of the need to have assistance going to the most vulnerable in our society.

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To be clear, I'm well aware of the other measures that the government has taken. However, the government's own hand-picked Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has stated that income support payments, in their view, should be increased at least to 90 per cent of the pension. This goes nowhere near that. I also appreciate that the minister has said that they themselves have been on income support. I would suggest to the minister that it hasn't been recently.

What we know is that income support has not increased much beyond indexation for far too long. We have one of the lowest income support payments in the OECD. We had hundreds of submissions and advocates telling the government that increasing income support above the poverty line is the single biggest thing you can do to assist people in this country—the three million people in this country who are living in poverty, the one in six kids in this country who are living in poverty—and the Labor opposition went to an election telling people that no-one would be left behind.

So, again, I ask the minister, is it the view of the government that people on income support should still be expected to live below the poverty line?

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

Since the Albanese government was elected, the base rate of JobSeeker for a single person has increased by $120 per fortnight. This is as a result of the government's real increase to rates in the last budget of $40 per fortnight along with regular indexation. This is an increase of 18.7 per cent in two years. This is the largest ever nominal increase to unemployment benefits per cent in a two-year period, providing over $3,100 in additional support a year. It is the largest increase in real terms in more than 40 years.

JobSeeker is designed as a temporary payment to support people while they look for work or are temporarily incapacitated or unwell. It is not supposed to replace lost wages or earnings. For those who do face barriers to work, there are higher rates of payment available. This includes parents with dependents as well as older Australians. As a result of the government's measures in this bill, job seekers with an assessed partial capacity to work of less than 15 hours a week will also be able to access the higher rate. This builds on the government's measures in the previous budget to extend eligibility for the higher rate from people aged 60 and over, to people aged 55 and over, who are on payments for nine continuous months. For these cohorts, shifting from the base rate to the higher rate means they receive more than $4½ thousand each year in additional support since this government was elected. That's an extra $170 per fortnight. The government is doing what we can to provide more support to those who need it most while balancing other fiscal responsibilities and putting downward pressure on inflation.

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, I'd like to put it to you that 20 per cent, 18 per cent, of hardly anything at all is not much. It still doesn't get those people who are living below the poverty line above it. Minister, this is the second year in a row that the government has ignored the advice of its own hand-picked Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee, which is headed up by a former Labor minister. Is it the permanent position of the Labor government that you will never raise the rate above the poverty line, as the Liberal government did during the COVID pandemic?

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

The government acknowledges and thanks the members of the committee for the important work they do. I'd also like to make the point that the committee's report this year included 22 recommendations. In addition to its recommendation on the adequacy of working age payments, it recommended a further increase to Commonwealth rental assistance, the removal of barriers to employment and support for families as well as a recommendation around the purpose of the social security system.

On rent assistance, over the course of the last two budgets the government has delivered two real increases to maximum rates, providing more support to almost a million recipient households to help them manage rental pressures. If this bill passes, from 20 September maximum rates, combined with indexation, will have increased by over 40 per cent since the Albanese government was elected. We are also implementing the committee's recommendation in this year's report for changes to the carer payment to remove barriers to workforce participation. More broadly, the advice of the committee is used to inform a range of policy processes across government, not just budget measures, including the Measuring what matters report and the employment white paper.

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, we've heard a lot of late about the fact that we're in a skills crisis and that we have significant skills shortages across our economy. I live in regional Queensland, and I can attest to the fact that we have a shortage of doctors, nurses and other allied health professionals. As you know, I was a teacher. I have a partner, a daughter and many friends who are teachers, and I can tell you categorically that we have a teacher shortage. When the committee heard evidence in relation to this legislation and also during the poverty inquiry, we heard from large numbers of students who told the committee that many students are choosing not to continue their studies or are falling behind in their studies because they can't afford to live on youth allowance. Does the government understand or accept that by again refusing to raise the rate of youth allowance and support for students who are studying they are in fact contributing to the skills crisis that we are currently experiencing?

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

As I've already stated, the government is doing what we can to provide more support to those who need it most, and this budget and the last budget demonstrate that commitment.

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, why has the government taken the decision to move 4,700 JobSeeker participants onto a higher rate rather than the disability support pension?

(Quorum formed)

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

The disability support pension is intended for recipients that have a physical, intellectual or psychiatric condition that is likely to persist for more than two years. The condition must be diagnosed, reasonably treated and stabilised and the person must also be assigned a qualifying score under the DSP impairment tables.

Unlike DSP, the JobSeeker payment is intended for people with a temporary incapacity to work. The JSP recipients with a PCW of zero to 14 hours per week have been assessed in terms of whether there will be a functional improvement within two years. A higher payment rate would assist impacted jobseekers to support themselves to a greater extent while still pursuing work for its social and economic benefits. The JSP recipients with a PCW may also be eligible for a temporary incapacity exemption from mutual obligation requirements.

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, I'm interested in how the government calculated moving JobSeeker recipients with partial capacity to work of zero to 14 hours per week to a higher rate. What considerations did the government have as part of that decision?

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

The higher rate is recognition that some people face barriers to work.

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Could you please explain, then, Minister, why this bill moves those with a partial capacity of zero to 14 hours onto a higher rate of JobSeeker, instead of, for example, those with a partial capacity of 15 to 22 hours?

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

The change targets additional assistance to those who, in the cohort with a partial capacity to work, have the most significantly reduced capacity to work. Recipients with a partial capacity to work of 15 or more hours a week are more likely to engage in the workforce and supplement income support with earnings. For instance, around nine per cent of JobSeeker payment recipients with a partial capacity to work of less than 15 hours report earnings. JobSeeker payment recipients with a partial capacity to work of 15 to 29 hours per week are more likely to experience the benefit of work, with around 62,000 recipients reporting earnings—around 18 per cent of the cohort, which is broadly consistent with the overall JobSeeker payment population.

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, what percentage of households in rented accommodation will receive the rent assistance increase?

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

The Commonwealth rent assistance payment goes to recipients inside the social security system.

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister, are you telling me that you don't know the percentage of households in rented accommodation that will receive the rent assistance increase? I didn't ask if they were inside or outside. I simply asked what percentage of households in rented accommodation will receive the rent assistance increase.

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

Sorry, Senator Allman-Payne, I just want to clarify. Are you asking how many people will receive Commonwealth rent assistance?

Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For clarity, there are probably two questions there. The first question is: what percentage of households in Australia who rent will benefit from this rent assistance increase? That's of all renters, and I would expect the department to have figures on the percentage of people who rent. Then I'm happy to add a second question, which is: of the people who currently receive Commonwealth rent assistance, what percentage will receive this increase?

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

It's around a quarter of the households that rent.

Progress reported.