2018-08-01
By Senator Rachel Siewert
We are coming through the winter ‘break’ (when Parliament doesn’t sit for a period and we are out in the electorate) and the last few months have been a mixed-bag of by-elections, estimates, the Federal budget, important committee work and, recently, chaos in the Government.
Having initiated with Labor the senate inquiry into rural and regional mental health, it was great to get the ball rolling and out into the regions to talk with local service deliverers about the gaps in mental health services that are costing lives.
Our first was in Albany, when unfortunately there was a storm that cut the power in the venue but we were still able to hear evidence from important local service deliverers who are struggling to keep up with the rate of mental ill health in the area.
The inquiry will visit Kununurra, Halls Creek, Derby, Broome, Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, and Albury-Wodonga gathering evidence. We know that out in the regions many members of the community, particularly farmers and First Nations peoples, are struggling with higher rates of mental-ill health and suicide. It’s critically important we get out there and gather evidence so we can recommend how to improve services.
I’ve also been out in the regions on the important Joint Select Committee that is looking into next steps for Constitutional Recognition, and truth, justice and healing for our First Peoples. The Committee has been to Barunga, Kununurra, Halls Creek, Broome and Fitzroy Crossing. I hope the work of the committee helps pave the way to finally reconciling our First Nations people; it is long overdue.
Additional to all this, we also had the Federal budget handed down in May, where people on lowest levels of income have been completely ignored. Despite a growing number of social services groups, economists and local councils calling for an increase to the Newstart payment, the Turnbull Government has failed to do this. We’ve done a bunch of work alongside these groups in calling for an increase to the payment.
In August we will be introducing our private member’s bill to increase the payment by $75 a week. I am hopeful it will be supported so that members of the community can finally receive a payment that allows them to look for work without struggling.
In Senate estimates just after the budget we got to question departments about different components of the budget, and we found out that a third of appeals over Centrelink robodebts have resulted in debts being set aside by the Administrative Appeals Tribunal since the program began mid-2016.
For a third of debts to be set aside for those who had the courage to actually appeal should raise concerns about other debts. One in three is a significant amount to overturn. I for one have not forgotten that there are many Australians still receiving incorrect or false debts to their detriment, and have urged those that receive debt notices to interrogate and challenge the debt.
National redress legislation for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse has finally passed; meaning survivors of institutional child sexual abuse can finally begin to access redress. In saying this, I share concerns with survivors that the Scheme is not the best it can be given there are some issues that remain unresolved.
The Government has said that they won’t raise the cap because a $200,000 cap would result in an average payment of $65,000, whilst the current $150,000 cap will result in an average payment of $76,000. They could not explain how they came to this figure, which is farcical. This is just one of the remaining concerns The Greens and others share. Following commencement, we will continue to advocate and work for subsequent reforms to make the Scheme the best it can be.
We’ve had three by-elections running in WA and have had three amazing candidates running, Caroline Perks in Perth, Dorinda Cox in Fremantle and Anthony Pyle for Darling Range. It has been great to see all of them running on a strong vision of a just and equal society where we ensure that big businesses and vested interests do their bit to contribute their fair share to our society. It is clear we need to take our democracy back to stop burgeoning inequality and look after our environment.
What a wild time it has been in politics lately! We have a new Prime Minister but unfortunately the policies have not changed. While the Government was in turmoil, focusing on their own egos and personal interest, the real issues were not being addressed by them. As the public looked on with horror and anger, Richard gave a speech in the Senate which said what we were all thinking: stop focusing on yourselves and get on with tackling the issues that matter. It was quite a speech which was shared far and wide. During all this time The Greens continued working hard on a range of different areas.
In early August, I very fortunately was able to go to the Garma Festival in Arnhem Land which was a great experience. I met with First Nations peoples from across Australia who reinforced to me the importance of a Voice to Parliament, sovereignty, truth-telling and the Makarrata. Senior Yolngu leaders said they have grown old waiting for action. The Greens will continue to support First Nations people in pursing justice.
Following their rejection of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and the Referendum Council recommendations, the Government has established a Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition Relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, of which I am a member. Throughout June and July we were on the road listening to First Nations peoples’ views on the Uluru Statement. We handed down our interim report on 30th July. What we have found so far is that there is a frustration with how long the question of recognition has taken to resolve and strong support for a Voice to Parliament. There has also been much discussion about including local and regional voices. The report outlines the issues raised and outlines views on various options. There are a series of questions posed in the final chapter and I urge people to have a read and respond. The Committee will continue to have hearings through to the end of November when the final report is due.
On the cashless welfare card, fortunately the legislation to rollout the card in the 4th trial site of Hinkler hasn’t yet passed the Senate. However, disappointingly the Labor party and crossbench did not support our disallowance motion that would have stopped the card trials in the Goldfields, Ceduna and East Kimberley. Curiously, the Labor party has been opposed to the card in Hinkler and Goldfields but not in Ceduna or the East Kimberley.
In Parliament we have also been focusing once again on campaigning to raise Newstart and Youth Allowance by $75 per week. I will be introducing the Greens bill to raise Newstart by $75 a week in the September sitting weeks. Newstart is shamefully low and has not been increased since 1994.
In some good news, we were able to secure a Senate Inquiry into the jobactive employment program. This program is supposed to help and support jobseekers in finding employment through private contractors outsourced by the government, but there have been a lot of reports of failures in the program and jobseekers frequently feel let down. Almost half of all the people in the jobactive program have been in the service for at least two years, if not much longer. So this Inquiry will be a good opportunity to get to the bottom of why the system is not working as well as it could and how it can be improved.
I have also been chairing a Senate committee inquiry into the accessibility and quality of mental health services in rural and remote Australia. We have travelled around rural and remote Australia from Kununurra and Halls Creek, Katherine and Alice Springs, to Whyalla hearing about the barriers people from the remote areas face when they are trying to access services.
Government has recently extended its robodebt program to those people on income support with vulnerability indicators, that is, they are have started pursuing some of the most vulnerable members of our community for supposed debts. I put some questions on notice to the Government about it, and receiving no response I asked some questions in the Senate. The Government said it was a trial that had been suspended, when asked about the date the trial was suspended it turns out to be the same date I put the questions in on notice ‒ what a coincidence?
We welcomed Mehreen Faruqi as the new senator for NSW in the August sitting week. In her first speech she called out the normalisation of racism, a week after Senator Anning’s hate-filled speech, and confirmed that she would hit the ground running in the Senate on a wide-range of portfolio issues including education, housing, animal welfare, local government, industry and gun control. I look forward to working with Mehreen as part of our federal Greens parliamentary team.
Finally, I would like to thank everyone who was involved in the Fremantle and Perth by-election campaigns. Caroline Perks and Dorinda Cox were outstanding candidates. Thanks to our volunteers for the time and effort they put in doorknocking, making phone calls and handing out how-to-vote cards on the day. It was a great opportunity to test our campaigning techniques before the federal election due next year and we should all be proud.
Header photo: On the panel at Barunga.