Time's up for the Minister for Nothing
The government’s own experts know the rate of income support needs to be “significantly increased”. So why aren't they doing it?
Minister Rishworth’s response to her own Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee report that “we can’t fund every good idea” is dripping with cynicism and contempt.
An urgent raise of income support payments above the poverty line is an emergency measure to save lives and restore safety and dignity to the lives of the over 3 million Australians currently living in poverty.
Cleaning the toilet is a “good idea.” Getting enough sleep is a “good idea.” Ensuring income support payments don’t continue to “stagnate below the poverty line” is Minister Rishworth’s core obligation.
A significant raise to income support payments has long been accepted as necessary, if not inevitable, with the current cost-of-living crisis only heightening the urgency. So where is the Minister?
Two-thirds of the way through her term, Amanda Rishworth has all but vacated her role as Social Services Minister, with no plan to significantly increase the rate of income support payments. What will change? In the absence of any indication from the Minister we have to assume the answer is nothing.
Amanda Rishworth is the Minister for Nothing
Why, so far into this Minister’s term, do we have no idea what Amanda Rishworth intends to do? The Minister and her Government’s avoidance of the issue since the election stands in stark contrast to their previous calls for a raise while in opposition.
“The bells are ringing for an increase” cried Anthony Albanese shortly after taking the Labor party leadership in 2019. "I want to see the rate increase - that's a fact - but it's up to the government to change that," he continued.
Later in the year, Amanda Rishworth criticised the Morrison government, saying they had “let (jobseeker) stagnate below the poverty line”. However, since taking on the social services ministry, it’s apparent that the only plan Minister Rishworth has is more stagnation.
She has no plan and no ideas, only dishing up reheated leftovers from the government she had criticised, passing off automatic indexation adjustments during high inflation as action.
It is clear, from these humiliating attempts at being seen to act, that the Minister knows she must deal with the issue, but is incapable and out of her depth when it comes to offering anything of substance. A paltry, token raise of $2.85 per day was all she had to offer at the last budget, which only came after weeks of pressure from backbenchers and advocates — and a series of ill-thought out compromises floated and leaked to media.
She even chose to make recipients wait four extra months for this insulting increase, so it would kick in at the same time as September’s round of automatic indexation adjustments — all so it would inflate the dollar amount and appear more generous. This despicably cynical and cruel bit of politics showed nothing but contempt for the people she is charged with assisting, and a complete lack of any attempt to take her ministerial portfolio seriously.
Since the last Budget’s chaotic display, we have seen and heard nothing of substance from the Minister. She has remained hidden, shying away from the poverty crisis she willingly drew attention to from Opposition.
In government, she is offering no plan to meaningfully help those in poverty.
Time is up for ignoring this issue. Time is up for the people in poverty who have waited through a decade of Coalition cruelty and now almost a full term of Labor silence. And, if Rishworth cannot come up with a plan for finally raising the rate above the poverty line, time will be up for this Minister for Nothing.
Media contact: Catherine Caine
0431 869 469 / catherine@auwu.org.au