Hansard …
ADJOURNMENT
12 October 2005
Poverty
Speech

Senator MILNE (Tasmania) (7.41 p.m.) —I rise tonight to note that Anti-Poverty Week will be held from 16 October to 22 October 2005.

I also wish to express my great disappointment that the Greens and the Democrats were unfortunately not able to get the support of the government, the Labor Party or Family First for a motion which came before the Senate today which called on the government to increase the current payment level of Newstart and Austudy allowances to the level of aged pensions — which is just above the half median income poverty line — and called on the government to develop a national poverty strategy that includes better job opportunities for poor people and better government research into national poverty.

What sort of an indictment is it when neither of the major parties is prepared to support increasing those payments for Newstart and Austudy to a level which is just above the half median income poverty line, and why would anyone vote against a proposal to develop a national poverty strategy? We have to recognise that, whilst the Australian economy may apparently be booming, there is a huge disparity between the rich and the poor — the gap in this country is huge.

Tonight I want to speak in particular about Tasmania and, specifically, the electorate of Braddon, which has been seriously let down by almost a decade of the Howard government and by the Tasmanian Labor government.

Braddon has been ignored.

It has the highest poverty rate of the 150 House of Representatives seats: 15.1 per cent of the electorate of Braddon live below the poverty line. That is an extraordinary figure, and it is something which I think all members of the Senate and the House of Representatives should get their heads around. In Braddon, we have the ninth lowest median family income of the 150 House of Representatives seats, an average of $688 a week. Braddon has the ninth highest proportion of families with incomes of less than $500 per week of the 150 House of Representatives seats, and the average taxable income in 2001-02-which is the most recent figure we can get — at $33,014 was only 84 per cent of the national average of $39,254.

Highest rate of welfare dependency

Braddon has a high rate of welfare dependency. In September 2004, 30 per cent of the electorate’s population was on the age pension, the disability pension, Newstart allowance, Youth Allowance or the parenting payment. That is particularly concerning, given the government’s moves in relation to Newstart allowance, people with disabilities and single parents et cetera. ACOSS expects that over four years from 1 July 2006, the following numbers of people will be moved off their pension payments and onto the Newstart allowance: 580 people with disabilities — who are assessed as able to work 15 hours a week — and 277 single parents. That is a total of 857 residents, or 1.2 per cent of the Braddon population, who will be directly affected. If you were to add children and dependants, you would get a really accurate picture of the impact of the welfare changes.

That would bring the total to about 1,500.

That is just appalling.

Two per cent of the population of the electorate of Braddon — the poorest electorate in the country on any statistics— will be affected adversely by the government’s changes, and the onus is on the member for Braddon, Mark Baker, to do something about it.

Over the last decade, the Howard government has ignored the electorate.

Braddon has had a minimal share of any of the programs that have been brought in. For example, out of the Regional Partnerships agreement funding, Braddon got a total of $72,600 out of $500 million — and yet it is the poorest electorate in the country.

One of the major problems for Braddon is public transport. Unfortunately, people find it very hard to get work and to travel to work. The north-west has a higher rate of unemployment than other Tasmanian regions, and we know that public transport and child-care services on the coast are nowhere near sufficient to cater for the needs of such disadvantaged job seekers.

People will find this amazing, but ACOSS are constantly dealing with cases where people who live in Ulverstone have to stay overnight in Devonport, which is only 15 to 20 minutes away by car, because there are no buses running back to Ulverstone when they finish work. This is a completely unacceptable situation for single parents and it gives some insight into the likely impacts of the welfare changes.

I call on the member for Braddon, Mark Baker

The irony is that Braddon is one of the most beautiful places in the country. It has got the cleanest air in the world, the largest tract of temperate rainforest in the country, magnificent coastlines, and the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area as its backdrop. Unfortunately, it is an electorate which has concentrated on primary industries, so it has been adversely affected by globalisation and by the failure of industry to upgrade, which has caused many of them to leave.

It suffered from regional dislocation when the Public Service withdrew from the regions. All of those things have adversely affected Braddon. What I believe is needed is a major injection of finance into the region of Braddon. I am calling on the government, and, in particular, the member for Braddon, Mark Baker.

The one thing that could be done for Braddon which would make a huge impact would be to invest in a light rail service to run from Launceston through to Burnie or Wynyard. That would allow people to move up and down the electorate to access the TAFE colleges. We need a major investment in the university in the region as well, but first and foremost we need accessible public transport. The Greens in Tasmania tried desperately in the mid 1990s to get the government to do something about the public transport issue. We went to see a Swiss company, Sulzer, who advised that it would be feasible to construct a light rail system from Burnie to Launceston through the electorate, and yet the government was not interested.

Given these statistics, we have to provide public housing for Braddon, we have to provide public transport for Braddon, and we have to invest in a tertiary economy in the university in Braddon. But first and foremost, let us support the affordable housing strategy. Let us give them public dental care. It is terrible to think that 66 per cent of the people in Braddon have not visited a dentist in the last year. What an indictment that is.

I would urge members of parliament to visit one of the most beautiful places on earth, the north-west Tasmania electorate of Braddon, and recognise that a lot can be done to improve the quality of life of people there.

In this Anti-Poverty Week, let us stop pork-barrelling in marginal electorates on the basis of political outcomes and let us try to lift the statistics in Braddon and invest in that electorate so that it can improve basic statistics: affordable public transport, affordable housing and investment in the tertiary economy. That is what Braddon desperately needs.