Page 3081 - Week 09 - Thursday, 13 October 2022
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
a forensic and line-by-line scrutiny of poverty and cost-of-living pressures on Australian households will be looked at from the federal level.
While I have no doubt that this contribution will elicit guffaws and scorns from the opposition, just as it did the last time Ms Lee brought a not-dissimilar motion to the chamber, the reality is that the major contributor to the rising rates of wealth and income inequality, and in particular poverty, in this city is the political decision made by the two old parties to keep the poorest in Australia living below the Henderson Poverty Line—the absolute refusal to raise income support payments above the Henderson Poverty Line, to give people dignity, to give people respect and to give people the tools that they need—literally money—to be able to get themselves out of poverty and be able to contribute to society, access education, provide care to family and contribute in their community.
It actually is not that hard, Madam Speaker, when you get right down to how to fix poverty in this country. I may be accused of being simplistic, naive or even idealistic, but the simplest way to help people who do not have money is to give them some money! That is not a policy lever available to this Assembly or to this government. If it were, I can assure you it is one I would be advocating strongly for us to be pulling, as would my Greens colleagues in cabinet. Fortunately, there are three of my Greens colleagues in cabinet, who, alongside their Labor colleagues, have invested hundreds of millions of dollars throughout a range of different directorates, with a range of different budget initiatives designed to eliminate poverty in this city.
Has it gone far enough? No. Poverty has not gone away. Scooping water out of a boat that is sinking is the job of subnational governments of all political persuasions at the moment, while federal governments of both political persuasions refuse to do what the evidence tells them to do, and that is to raise income support payments to at least $88 a day, above the Henderson Poverty Line.
I know that there are people in this chamber from all three political parties who agree with me. I challenge them to say that. I challenge them to call out their federal colleagues and say the quiet part out loud. Tell your colleagues on the hill and tell the constituents that you represent in this place that you get it, that you understand that them not having enough money is the reason that they are in poverty, and demonstrate the leadership that you are prepared to advocate on that issue.
I appreciate that is tough. I have been a member for two years and I have, perhaps more regularly than I should, extended my political capital to upset my colleagues when I have felt that the government has not gone in the right direction on certain policies, because I have had the conviction that that is my responsibility when I can see pressures on my constituents.
When the pressure of poverty weighs most heavily on those in our community who are least able to advocate for themselves, the responsibility of members of this Assembly becomes even greater—to put your head above the parapet, advocate for an immediate rise in income support payments to above $88 a day, and join that Greens campaign. If you cannot bring yourself to call it a Greens campaign, join the literally hundreds of community service organisations, faith-based organisations and even
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video