{"id":24099,"date":"2023-11-18T03:12:29","date_gmt":"2023-11-18T03:12:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=24099"},"modified":"2023-11-18T03:12:29","modified_gmt":"2023-11-18T03:12:29","slug":"labor-votes-down-greens-amendments-to-its-inadequate-legislation-that-merely-tinkers-at-the-edge-of-our-broken-social-security-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2023\/11\/18\/labor-votes-down-greens-amendments-to-its-inadequate-legislation-that-merely-tinkers-at-the-edge-of-our-broken-social-security-system\/","title":{"rendered":"LABOR VOTES DOWN GREENS AMENDMENTS TO ITS INADEQUATE LEGISLATION THAT MERELY TINKERS AT THE EDGE OF OUR BROKEN SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Labor government has voted down Greens amendments to its Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Supporting the Transition to Work) Bill 2023<\/em> that would have raised the rate of income support, abolished mutual obligations and extended the work bonus for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government\u2019s Bill seeks to extend the temporary work bonus that was introduced last year for aged pensioners and some veteran recipients \u2013 leaving behind all other income support recipients in a poverty trap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also extends the nil rate period for Jobseeker and other income support recipients, meaning income recipients are able to work longer without their payment being cancelled. The Greens know this is simply tinkering at the edges and avoiding the change needed to the system \u2013 raising the rate of income support and abolishing mutual obligations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator Janet Rice said:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhile this bill takes small but important steps to assist income support recipients entering the workforce, we also know that these measures are just tinkering around the edges of a broken system.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf Labor can increase the amount pensioners can work to $300 a fortnight \u2013 why can\u2019t they do the same for Jobseekers, people on the parenting payment and Disability Support Pensioners under 21?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur safety net should encourage people to supplement their support payment with income from work. But right now Jobseekers and other income support recipients are only allowed to earn up to $150 a fortnight before their payment is reduced.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is completely astounding that Labor has decided to grant the work bonus to pensioners, and not include all income support recipients.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver 43% of Jobseeker recipients have a partial capacity to work, meaning they are sick and\/or disabled. Disabled or sick people don\u2019t always have the capacity to sustain long term employment and may only be able to work intermittently.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLabor is doing nothing for them. If you\u2019re struggling to find employment, if you\u2019re suffering from an illness, if you\u2019re living with a disability, if you have caring responsibilities \u2013 forget it. Labor will not give you the full support you need to meet your basic needs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPayments below the poverty line mean hunger, they mean illness, they mean hopelessness. None of those realities are conducive to finding meaningful, sustainable work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf Labor really wanted to help people find meaningful work, they would raise the rate of all income support payments to above the poverty line and abolish mutual obligation requirements.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe evidence shows that having more money and more time allows people to turn their attention away from day-to-day survival and towards creating a financially and emotionally sustainable future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur amendments aren\u2019t new and they aren\u2019t complicated. Each of these measures were implemented in the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and they can be implemented again. The problem is Labor\u2019s lack of political will to end poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is just one set of amendments \u2013 today, the Greens introduced three sets of amendments on three different bills trying to address the core problem of our social safety net, but Labor voted with the Liberals against them every time.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Labor government has voted down Greens amendments to its Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Supporting the Transition to Work) Bill 2023 that would have raised the rate of income support, abolished mutual obligations and extended the work bonus for everyone. The government\u2019s Bill seeks to extend the temporary work bonus that was introduced last year … Continue reading “LABOR VOTES DOWN GREENS AMENDMENTS TO ITS INADEQUATE LEGISLATION THAT MERELY TINKERS AT THE EDGE OF OUR BROKEN SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24099","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24099"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24100,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24099\/revisions\/24100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}