Tuesday, 14 May 2024

Income support

Sam HIBBINS (Prahran) (14:25): My question is to the Premier. Today the federal budget is being handed down, and the low rates of income support for people on JobSeeker and youth allowance are keeping many Victorians in extreme poverty, making it harder for women to escape violence and pushing people into already stretched and underfunded state-based homelessness and crisis services – cost shifting of the worst kind. Given the impact the low rate of income support has on so many Victorians, why isn’t the Victorian government publicly advocating for the rate of income support to be raised above the poverty line in today’s federal budget?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Transport Infrastructure will come to order. This is your second warning.

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:26): I will confine my comments to matters of state government responsibility. The Greens political member for Prahran would like to perhaps go and join the federal Parliament, like his upper house colleague. Perhaps that is what he is more interested in, because he very rarely asks a question that is directly related to state government administration. Perhaps he would like to follow his colleague, a member for Northern Metropolitan Region, off into the federal landscape. It is a unity ticket over there.

What we are focused on here – and I am very pleased to advise the member for Prahran – is that we have recognised that many Victorians are facing those cost-of-living pressures that are being experienced around the country. We know that with the impact of the cost of utilities, the cost of food and the cost of rent there are those inflationary pressures that have come as a result of successive interest rate rises, global uncertainty and workforce shortages that have combined to see pressures go on costs right across our community. That is why I mentioned earlier the school saving bonus. That is why last week’s budget included additional support. In addition to the long list of support we provide to schools, we have added to that at this point in time with a dedicated payment that recognises at this point in time families are doing it tough.

But we do not just stop there. The reason we focus on state government work is because it is where we can make a difference. Where we have been making a difference is – and I have a long list here for the member’s interest – in transport, where we have capped regional fares for regional passengers to be the same as for metropolitan Melbourne, saving regional passengers substantial amounts of funds.

Sam Hibbins: On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the question went to the state government’s advocacy to the federal government on this issue, and the question also had a direct link between the low rate of income support and pushing Victorians onto state-based services. So I would ask you to bring the Premier back to actually answering the question.

The SPEAKER: The Premier was being relevant to the question that was asked. It was in relation to income support.

Jacinta ALLAN: It was. The question went to the pressure it is putting on state-based services, and I am giving a state-based response as to how we are providing support for families. There is free car rego for apprentices. We have free L- and P-plate licensing and online testing and short-term vehicle registration. When you look at the energy sector, on power bills we have got winter gas discounts – those opposite might like to get onto that – and electricity discounts as well. We have got of course the Victorian default offer, which is saving families significant amounts of funding. There are utility relief grants. I can also talk to free kinder, free TAFE, baby bundles and the Get Active Kids vouchers. The Minister for Community Sport would absolutely want me to refer to that and how we have extended that in this year’s budget. The list is even longer than what I have read out, but this is what we will focus on.

Sam HIBBINS (Prahran) (14:29): I join the Premier in agreement that the Greens member for Northern Metro will be heading to federal Parliament, but the state government has been –

Members interjecting.

Sam HIBBINS: You said it. But the state government previously has not been shy about weighing in on federal matters that impact Victorians. The national cabinet regularly meets on issues of national significance. And given the importance of raising the rate of income support and the benefits it would have to Victorians living in poverty, experiencing family violence or homelessness, will the government commit to advocating for raising the rate of income support at the next national cabinet?

Mary-Anne Thomas: On a point of order, Speaker, the supplementary question was in fact just a re-run of the substantive question. I ask that you ask the member to rephrase his question.

The SPEAKER: No, the question was fine. The question was not the same. The question was marginally different.

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:31): Well, there’s a slogan: ‘Greens political party ‍– taking Victorians for granted’. The arrogance to suggest that the member for Northern Metropolitan Region is on some cake walk to Canberra – the absolute arrogance of the Greens political party. What we are focused on is not taking Victorians for granted. We are working incredibly hard. The member asked about national cabinet and the support we are providing for women and children fleeing family violence. We called for a national cabinet meeting to be held on this very issue. The Prime Minister has been working with us and other state and territory leaders on this very issue. Indeed last week in response to work we have been doing with the federal Labor government, which is not taking Victorians for granted in the Northern Metropolitan Region, we have added substantially to housing support through this weekend’s announcement of an additional billion dollars of funding for housing just in this area.