Press Conference, Canberra
E&OE
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well thank you. Earlier today I introduced into the House of Representative the Social Services Legislation Amendment (Youth Employment) and Other Measures Bill 2015. Interestingly, the Labor Party in Budget week actually voted against this bill in a motion in the Senate before they’d even seen the bill, which I think says a little bit about the way the Labor Party is dealing with matters before the Senate, and matters the Government is seeking to pursue through the Budget process as a result of our Budget. But I think it’s important that we make it very clear what exactly it is we are proposing. What we have done in this new Bill is to withdraw the measure that was in last year’s Budget which related to a 6-month waiting period for those under the age of 30 in relation to access to the dole allowances. What we have done in its place is introduced a new measure which would see people under the age of 25 have to wait four weeks in addition to the normal one week waiting period time before they could access what will be the youth allowance and that is up to the age of 25.
It is important that it is understood what the various exemptions are that relate to these measures. They include the following: former carers of people with a disability, those recently released from prison or psychiatric facilities, young people who are unable to live at home, young people with undiagnosed mental illness, and humanitarian and other migrant youth. If someone has a disability or has an activity text exemption – for example they are pregnant and in the last six weeks of their pregnancy, they will not have to serve out the waiting period. Parents who have the primary care responsibility for their children are not included in these measures. We are talking about job ready young people who we want to see having a go at getting into work. That’s what we want to see. We want to send a very clear message that we want you in work when you are job ready, that you don’t have the option of walking from the school gate to the front door of the Centrelink office. That’s not a message we want to send in this country. It’s very important that we encourage young people that choosing welfare is not the career that we want for them. We want them to choose work and we want to do a number of things to help them do that and in this Budget we’ve done exactly that. Reversing the measure from last year comes at a cost of $1.8 billion. The saving in this measure is just $200 million, but in addition to that we’ve invested over $300 million in ensuring that there are programs to support particularly very vulnerable youth in the community, those who are maybe suffering from mental illness, those who might be in vulnerable migrant communities or ethnic communities around the country, those who may have been long-term unemployed.
We are investing in this Budget to give young people the opportunity to be in work, to get job ready, to get to the starting line of a job, to get into a job and then stick in a job. We have measures in this Budget which deal with supporting a young person to receive an allowance as real work experience in a real business doing a real job, and then beyond that, they can get access to an incentive payment for their employer to keep them in that job for another 6 months and then beyond that, they have hopefully proved themselves and their value to that organisation and they can then stay in a job. The programs we’re putting in deal with mentoring and support for young people so they can stick in a job, not just get ready for a job. We listened to what people had to say about the measure we put in place last year. We listened hard and what they said to you see was six months was too long. What they said to us was 30 was too high. What they said to us was you needed to invest more in helping young people get into work. That’s what this Bill does. This Bill responds to every single one of those concerns and we are investing in ensuring that young people get the clear message that you don’t get to walk from the school gate to the Centrelink office as you leave school.
One of the more concerning things I’ve had in this new responsibility as Minister for Social Services is to be briefed on what happens at the end of each school year, particularly for young school leavers, and this document is not an Ikea catalogue to go shopping for benefits. That’s not what it is. What this is is a schedule of benefits and payments that are there to help people in need and who need that help from the Australian taxpayer. Eight out of ten income taxpayers have to go to work every day to pay for the benefits and support that are provided in this schedule. But it shouldn’t be the case that people just simply pick this up out of school, go straight to the Centrelink office and say, “Give me my money”. That’s not the sort of country we want to run as a Government. That’s not the sort of society we want to lead. What we want to do is encourage people, particularly young people that – it’s when you leave school and you’re in a position where you’re job ready that you should be working and you should be doing it because it’s good for you, it’s good for your family, it’s good for your community. It’s the right choice for someone to want to be in a job and this Bill goes, I think, a long way to addressing the concerns that were raised last year. The Budget goes the distance, I think, to provide the support that is necessary. Now I said in my introduction that the Labor Party opposed this Bill before it was even introduced, sight unseen. Bill Shorten wants to run the Shorten shuttle from the school gate to the Centrelink office. That’s what he wants to do and we don’t think that’s the right message to send to young people. That’s why we put this Bill into the House today. That’s why it will go to the Senate and we believe strongly in the messages in this Bill. Any questions?
QUESTION:
In last year’s Budget also I think there was a pretty clear message on Family Tax Benefit B when a child turns six. Where are you with that in negotiation with the crossbench, are you moving that to 11 or 12?
MINISTER MORRISON:
We’re still in discussion with the crossbench about those matters.
QUESTION:
Can we take it from your comments that that will be adjusted?
MINISTER MORRISON:
You can take it that I’m in discussions with the crossbench about those matters.
QUESTION:
Minister, one year the Government was very slow to reach out to the crossbench to talk to them and try to get their support. How are you approaching that this year? Are there lessons to be learnt from last year?
MINISTER MORRISON:
There are always lessons to be learnt every day about everything and I’m sure, therefore, people are quite pleased and I’m quite sure the crossbench are I trust in the approach the Government is seeking to take towards them. I, along with my colleagues, have been engaging with the crossbench now for quite a considerable amount of time. There are a number of measures that are currently either about to be introduced into the Parliament and go before the Senate or are already there and I’ve been talking to crossbenchers about those things for many, many months. Whether they were the pension changes, the child care changes, these are the things I’ve been engaged in an active discussion on, in many cases before decisions have been taken to ensure that what we bring to the Parliament reflects their contribution, and what I brought forward into the Parliament today I think does very much reflect the contribution that was made by crossbenchers in their feedback to me about these measures since coming into this portfolio.
QUESTION:
What has their reaction been to these measures? Have you had a positive reaction?
MINISTER MORRISON:
I don’t think you expect me to do a running commentary on my discussions with the crossbenchers. I’ll continue to engage with them. That’s where the discussions are taking place and we’ve been listening very carefully and I want to thank the crossbenchers both for their availability and the access and the engagement we’ve had with them, because it is disappointing – it is disappointing that the crossbenchers once again have been thrust into the position of having to make the decisions about these issues, because the Labor Party wants to play politics with the Senate. Bill Shorten wants to play politics with the Senate. I mean, I’ll give you an example. On the Family Tax Benefit changes, it was the previous Labor Government that said that when your child turns six and you’re on the parenting payment, that you lost the parenting payment. That’s the measure they introduced and changed when they were in Government. And now they’re saying to change it for when a child turns six for the Family Tax Benefit, then this is something that can’t be done. No. What we’re seeing from the Labor Party is hypocrisy on these measures. Total hypocrisy. They want to jam things up in the Senate and use Senators as their political pawns for their ‘wreck the joint’ strategy. Now that may be Bill Shorten’s objective and I think it’s quite clear that Bill Shorten is all about the politics and not about the policy. But I am far more confident in the approach taken by the crossbenchers. It’s just a disappointment that they constantly are the ones rammed into the middle of this, because the Labor Party and Bill Shorten just can’t be adults in this discussion.
QUESTION:
Minister some of your own backbenchers have concerns with the Family Tax Benefit B changes, have you met with them and broached any compromise?
MINISTER MORRISON:
I have met with them and the measures on Family Tax Benefits were in last year’s Budget, not this year’s Budget and they’ve actually been voted for by Government members.
QUESTION:
Minister, do you agree with the former Assistant Treasurer who believes that the GST should be broadened? And then also on a separate but related issue, do you believe the GST on sanitary products should be removed?
MINISTER MORRISON:
I’m the Minister for Social Services; I encourage you to direct those matters to the Ministers that are responsible. I’m not paid to have an opinion, I’m paid to do a job as the Minister for Social Services and that’s the job I do every day.
QUESTION:
On the one month wait, last year in the proposed wait in the explanatory memorandum it said that most people under 30 have a support system, but there was no modelling based on it. Have you done any modelling to suggest that one month is sustainable for most young people?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well, we do have confidence about that…
QUESTION:
Have you done any modelling?
MINISTER MORRISON:
I’m saying we do have confidence about that. Let me just also reprise what it is we’re asking people to do in this four week period. We are asking them to meet with a jobactive provider. We are asking them to agree a job plan. We are asking them to develop an up-to-date resume. We are asking them to create a job seeker profile on the job search website and we are asking them to apply for jobs. See, we are asking young people to take the job that’s there, that’s what we’re asking. If you want to take the welfare benefit, then you have to apply for jobs, you have to have a go about getting a job. You can’t wait around for the dream job you may want if you want to get a welfare benefit. That’s your choice, but the taxpayer shouldn’t have to pay for that. You’re there to take the job that’s there and if you don’t want to take the job that’s there or if you want to walk away from a job that’s there, then you can’t expect the taxpayer to just turn up and subsidise that for you. That’s not fair to taxpayers. Eight out of ten taxpayers, as I said, income taxpayers are paying for these benefits. They deserve a fair go because they’re having a go, because they’re the ones who are paying the taxes. Now those who are affected by these measures, some 80,000 or thereabouts a year – 6.5 million young people under the age of 25 are living at home. They’re living at home. Now I’m confident that with the combination of the new measures we’re introducing to support young people get into work, plus the clear message that you just don’t get to walk into the Centrelink office and just walk out with the money, then we will get the right result here.
QUESTION:
Minister, in the motion that you mentioned earlier…
MINISTER MORRISON:
Sorry, I missed the start of the question.
QUESTION:
In the motion that you mentioned earlier in the Senate, four key crossbenchers backed a call to abandon even a one month waiting period. Even this Bill that you’ve introduced – doesn’t it mean it’s doomed to failure in the Senate?
MINISTER MORRISON:
No, I don’t share your pessimism on that issue. What I believe in is the integrity of the measure we’ve put forward. I believe that people in this country want to see young people in work and they want to see encouragement for them to be in work, but clear messages that you don’t get to lean on the taxpayer if you’re not prepared to have that go. I think the Australian people support that view, and I know that crossbenchers will be considering carefully the broader views of the Australian people when it comes to this issue, and we feel very strongly about these measures. We reversed a $1.8 billion saving on this matter and we decided that we believed it is an important policy to have in place that you should have to wait if you’re job ready. You can easily now, based on the advice I’ve given you today, dismiss all the scare campaigns which says people with disabilities or people with children, or people who are pregnant will somehow be affected by this policy. That’s nonsense. The exemptions are in place. These are for Stream A job seekers. People who are job ready and we’re asking them to do the most obvious things you expect any young person to do; apply for jobs, get a CV together, work with a jobactive provider, take the job that’s there. Not necessarily waiting on the dole for the job you want, take the job that’s there.
MINISTER MORRISON:
Andrew?
QUESTION:
One issue [inaudible] that has been highlighted with a climate of unemployment hovering around six per cent, youth unemployment double or triple that in some regions. What do you say to those people who live in areas where they just can’t find a job?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well that’s why we have put more than $300 million worth of investments into new programmes to help people do just that. That’s why we’ve invested $5.5 billion in backing small business because that’s where the jobs will come from. This is a Budget which is lifting confidence in this country, and it is lifting confidence in this country because we are saying to the Australian people and saying to Australian businesses, ‘We are backing your choices. We are backing your choices to invest, we are backing your choices to want to work more and we are going to support those choices through the way we’ve put this Budget together.’ That’s how you grow this economy. Under this Government, we’ve had over three times the level of job growth than that inherited from the previous Government. We will provide the measures we have put in this Budget do create the growth in the economy that will deliver the jobs, do provide the mechanisms of support that will support those jobs and for those who don’t want to apply for jobs, for those who are ready to get a job, but won’t put a CV together, who won’t meet with a jobactive provider, that think you can just walk and get on the Shorten shuttle from the school gate to the Centrelink office, we are saying no, that is not the sort of Government we are running that supports that sort of arrangement. And we are quite firm about it.
QUESTION:
(Inaudible) on childcare payments is it absolutely essential that the threshold for wealthy families on child care payments – that the threshold for wealthy families remains at $10,000?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Sorry, what was the question?
QUESTION:
It is absolutely essential that the threshold remains at $10,000?
MINISTER MORRISON:
Well what we’ve done for those on higher incomes – family incomes on the child care arrangements is effectively keep the existing arrangements in place. People who are on those levels of income – I mean that threshold kicks in several years from now and largely people at that level of income will be no worse off than they currently are now. We took that decision because this measure is about ensuring people stay in work and get in work when they choose to have families. If you were to reduce the current arrangements for those on those incomes then there is a risk that we would see people walk away from the workforce which is not what we – that’s not our objective. Let’s not forget that those who may be on higher incomes here may have one income earner – one partner was on a reasonably high income, say $150,000 or something like that, and the partner may be on an income of $40,000. So those subsidy arrangements for the provider that makes their cost of child care less, without that effectively their wage goes on the child care bill. The child care measure – we called it Jobs for Families because it is about jobs for families. It is not a welfare payment. It is a payment that is provided to the provider of the service to make the cost of the service that the family is buying more affordable. So they can follow through on their choice to work more. Last question.
QUESTION:
Minister a couple of days ago you said about gay marriage and I quote ‘that is a matter of conscience for me and I respect the conscience of other members.’ Can we take from that that you would support a free vote within the party?
MINISTER MORRISON:
No, what you can take from that is that I respect the views of other people on this very sensitive issue. I have my view, it hasn’t changed, it’s not about to change. I am not pushing my view on others. I am simply following through on the long held convictions that I have had on this matter and I respect all those who have contrary views to mine in this debate either inside this place or outside this place and simple ask that everyone else do the same. Thank you very much.