ABC TV News Breakfast
E&OE
Subjects: Young parents; parliamentary sittings
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
Now let’s return to those new figures out this morning showing there’s been a fall in the number of teenage parents claiming welfare. What does it mean? Joining us now from Canberra is Social Services Minister, Christian Porter.
Minister, good morning, and thanks for joining us again.
CHRISTIAN PORTER:
It’s a pleasure.
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
So according to your interpretation, what do the decreasing numbers of young people on income support show us?
CHRISTIAN PORTER:
Well, what they show us is that it’s a great result for a small group inside the welfare system that traditionally it’s been very hard to assist and that have had very bad long-term outcomes in terms of welfare dependence.
So what we’ve seen since we’ve come to government is a decrease in the number of, effectively, teen parents by about 4,000. Now, that means much better lifetime outcomes for those individual parents – often young mums – because they’re engaged in the workforce, because they become independent of the welfare system. It is also a great result for the taxpayer, because that 4,000 person decrease in this category of young teen mums, effectively, means that there’s a saving over the lifetime of the welfare system for that group for the taxpayer of $2 billion.
So, it’s very, very positive news. It’s improving individual lives for those young mums. And also it helps us break cycles of welfare dependency, because we have very strong information that shows us that very often the case – sometimes as high as 80 per cent – that a teen parent will have a child where the child itself will end up in the welfare system down the track.
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
But does it also mean, quite possibly, we have a number of young families with no safety net at all, no income support and no work, because you’re also claiming that part of the reason for this figure now is that you’ve made it harder to qualify. So, if they’re not qualifying for income support and they’re not getting jobs, they have nothing. Is that something to be proud of?
CHRISTIAN PORTER:
Well, that’s not an appropriate or fair interpretation of the data. So, when we say that it’s harder to …
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
It is if you’re making it harder to qualify.
CHRISTIAN PORTER:
Well, let me explain why.
So, for instance, what we have been able to do is through better data matching, through anti-fraud, stronger compliance and debt recovery measures, we have been able to stop people from getting into this category who shouldn’t actually be there. So there was a very high-profile example recently, for instance of a partner of a Cronulla Sharks player who was claiming this welfare benefit – a single parent’s payment – when in fact they were inside a family whose income was far greater than would allow them to get into the payment.
So, it’s quite clear that we’ve dissuaded a lot of people from entering into this payment who shouldn’t actually have been there.
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
Okay. Let’s move on to some other topical points this morning. I just want to show you this tweet this morning that was put out last night by Anthony Albanese, and ask you why cancelling next week’s sitting of the Lower House is not outright cowardice. He asks: if I had adopted this approach to the 43rd Parliament, we’d have never had any sittings; meaning you can actually run a minority government and get work done. How are you not being cowardly?
CHRISTIAN PORTER:
Well, I think the answer to that is that the Prime Minister has said effectively that we will sit for as long as it takes to deal with two, what have turned out to be, critical issues. One is the same-sex marriage issue, the other is the citizenship issue.
Now, that commitment to sit as long as it takes to deal with those issues means we may well be sitting for longer than the two weeks that were scheduled. So, how that can be cast as anything other than a fair and reasonable way of dealing with two issues, which are both very unique and which both need to be dealt with.
The fact is that in setting the schedule back and committing to sit for as long as it takes to deal with those two issues, we may well be sitting for longer than the two weeks that were scheduled. So, how can that be called cowardly?
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
Oh but come on, this is about trying to avoid the proposal for a banking commission of inquiry, isn’t it, that brings together – possibly – the Nats, Greens and Labor, when you’ve got the numbers in the House that are dodgy? It’s just one way of trying to sidestep that embarrassment, isn’t it?
CHRISTIAN PORTER:
Well, first you put to me the proposition that Anthony Albanese was putting, that sitting for one week instead of two was somehow lacking in bravery and what I’m putting to you is that the commitment is not to sit merely for one week, the commitment is to sit for as long as it takes to deal with two issues that may well take longer than two weeks.
I’ve seen how the debate on same-sex marriage is progressing in the Senate and I would describe it as rather grinding. The reality is that there are a whole range of different views, quite strongly held by individual members – and this is a very distinctive debate. This isn’t a party political debate on same-sex marriage. This is a debate where everyone is free to vote as they wish, free to amend as they wish, free to say what they wish to say on an issue that quite often has very firmly held individual views.
So, what we will experience in the House of Representatives, I can assure you, is going to be a long, arduous debate. And what the Prime Minister has said is: we will sit until that debate is concluded, until this issue is dealt with.
And I must say, for a Government such as ours, that’s doing amazing things in terms of job creation – which is one of the reasons again that we’ve been able to decrease the number of people on the single parent payment, is that we will be in a position where we can better communicate those issues, because the uniqueness of the same-sex marriage issue has been such that it’s taken up so much attention that it is, frankly, hard to talk about other things. As this interview demonstrates.
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
Well, I think the Parliament has always shown it can talk about even more than three things at once. But I will leave that to you guys to sort out.
Look, I’m wondering if you’ve read conservative commentator Andrew Bolt today? He says that he knows of one conservative MP who has threatened to quit the Government next month unless the Prime Minister is replaced by a more conservative leader than he. Do you know who this might be or how likely this might be?
CHRISTIAN PORTER:
I haven’t read the report you’re talking about. I think that sounds, in my observation, to be nonsensical. And the reality is that there are always going to be issues that governments don’t necessarily anticipate and wouldn’t wish upon themselves or the Australian people, like the citizenship issue.
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
Sure but just to jump in – sorry to jump in and I apologise for that – it’s clear …
CHRISTIAN PORTER:
Well, you know you don’t have to, Virginia. You could always let me finish!
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
Of course I do, I’m compelled to. It’s a column about clearly trying to clearly bring about a loss of power and a loss of Government in the lower house. I mean, it’s a pretty serious threat, and Andrew Bolt has decided to put his name to it. What do you reckon about the possibility of that?
CHRISTIAN PORTER:
Well, again, the point I was trying to make is that, notwithstanding these unforeseen circumstances like citizenship, my observation is that both Cabinet and the party room is firmly with and behind Malcolm Turnbull and his efforts to deal with these in the best interests of the Australian people. And I’ve seen nothing other than that. And I must say I probably travel a little bit closer in these circles than some of the commentators that you’re referring to.
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
Okay. Can the same-sex marriage bill be done before Christmas?
CHRISTIAN PORTER:
I believe so.
And that is the commitment, right? So, what the Prime Minister has said is that we will sit until it’s done and I tell you, it won’t be easy, because of the incredibly broad range of views on a range of issues. I noted that you had some footage from the Attorney-General there talking about what is a very complicated issue, international covenants with protections for religious freedoms of thought and expression and those things are going to get a full airing.
And what the Prime Minister has done is establish a sitting calendar that allows that issue to absolutely be resolved before Christmas, so that we as a nation can get on and talk about some of the other things that are affecting Australians, in my electorate and other electorates, including the incredible job growth that we’ve provided for young Australians across the nation.
VIRGINIA TRIOLI:
Okay, good to talk to you this morning, Minister. Thank you.