Press conference

E&OE

Question:

If the gap is too big between Newstart and Disability Payment why not look at increasing Newstart which has been criticised as very low?

Minister:

If the budget wasn’t in such a dire financial position then there may be other options open to the government but in the current situation it’s just impossible for the government to be able to make those sorts of changes, so what we’ve got to look at other ways in which we can tackle welfare reform in Australia.

Question:

Do you already have a pretty good idea about how deep the cuts will be in your portfolio in the May budget?

Minister:

These are things which are being worked through at the present time. The Commission of Audit is yet to finally report to the government and there’s an expenditure review process which the government will continue to progress between now and the May budget.

Question:

Will you be comfortable making cuts to welfare while the government pays full salaries of up to $150,000 for parental leave?

Minister:

Well parental leave is a very important policy of the government. What we have at the present time is a need for both more workers and more children and so parental leave is a policy which is aimed to try and help families have children but also to help them to get back into the workforce and stay connected with the workforce. This is very much a policy aimed at addressing the ageing of the population and our future employment needs in Australia.

Question:

That’s pretty hard to reconcile with the idea that the budget is in dire circumstances if you’re prepared to pay those sorts of costs for paid parental leave.

Minister:

Well, paid parental leave as I said is an important policy in terms of ensuring that we have the workforce in the future that we require in this country. If we don’t do that and have the workforce we will suffer all sorts of other consequences. So this is about employment not about welfare, it’s about ensuring that women in particular remain connected with the workforce whilst they’re having children which is also important for the future of the country.

Question:

Yeah but I’m not sure I can see the connection between that and your statement that the budget is in a dire state and you’re also paying out what is a very expensive paid parental leave scheme. I’m not sure I can see the link there.

Minister:

Well, paid parental leave, as I said, is very important to ensure we have employment in the future. If we don’t have employment in the future then that will have adverse budgetary considerations as well. So on one hand we’re looking at ensuring that as many people are capable of working do work, because we feel that the best form of welfare is work, and secondly to say that with an ageing population with an increased dependency rate in the future we have to ensure parents can maintain their contact with the workforce, and that’s what the paid parental leave scheme is able to do.

Question:

Why don’t you tell us about the 90 minute rule?

Minister:

The government believes the best form of welfare is work and where people are able to work and have the capacity to work then we should be encouraging them to work. It must seem rather unfair to those families and those workers who get up at 5 o’clock every morning and travel from the Central Coast of NSW or Wollongong or from out in the far eastern reaches of where suburban Melbourne is going now for more than 90 minutes to see that other people can avoid working, simply because of the 90 minute rule. So we’re going to review that as part of the welfare reforms.