Bill
Social Services Legislation Amendment (Low Income Supplement) Bill 2015
passed, as at 2015-11-12. Social Services portfolio.
- Sponsor
- Not recorded
- Portfolio
- Social Services
Recorded stages
Divisions
- Rachel Siewert This is national Anti-Poverty Week, and I am sure people are aware that it is in fact also National Carers Week. This is a week where we strengthen our understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty and hardship and, hopefully, take action to address it. We encourage research, discussion and action to combat poverty. Unfortunately, what we see here in Anti-Poverty Week is the government attempting to cut a measure that is in fact designed to help the very people that we want to help during national Anti-Poverty Week. A 2014 report by the Australian Council of Social Services shows that poverty is still a real and very significant challenge in Australia. In fact, there has been another report that they have just put out on poverty in Australia. The CEO, Dr Cassandra Goldie, says that it is unacceptable that after 20 years of economic growth our wealthy nation is going backwards in the numbers of people falling into poverty. There are 2.5 million people living below the poverty line of 50 per cent of median income. Single parents are at a very high risk of poverty, more so because they have been dumped onto Newstart and are struggling to survive. In the latest figures a third of single parents are trying to survive in poverty. People with a disability face a significantly higher risk of poverty than other people. Forty-four per cent of people with a disability live below the 60 per cent poverty line. Just yesterday St Vincent de Paul released the report _“Sick with worry…”: stories from the front-line of inequality, 2015_. They summarise the challenges of people living in poverty: a shortage of stable, affordable housing; low incomes that are not sufficient for a decent standard of living; that it is very difficult to find stable work, particularly for people struggling with poverty; and that those struggling with poverty who have a disability are even further behind the eight ball. There are fundamental challenges for people living with a disa — 2015-10-15, Senate: affirmative, ayes 41, noes 12
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