Labor calls for changes to Redress scheme so survivors don't miss out
Linda Burney on ABC Afternoon Briefing with Patricia Karvelas - Wednesday, 29 April 2020
PATRICIA KARVELAS: I’m joined by the Shadow Minister for Families and Social Services Linda Burney. Linda Burney welcome.
LINDA BURNEY: Hi Patricia.
KARVELAS: Labor wants the federal government to provide elderly and ill survivors access to early payments. Why have you chosen these groups to get this money early? Why do you think this is important?
BURNEY: There are a number of survivors that are no longer with us. They have passed away waiting for redress. And in Scotland there is an early release scheme. And we’re looking at that in terms of how we think the Australian government should be acting – I mean, this is not like it happened yesterday. 2015 is when the interim report was brought down. The scheme has been going for two years. Anne Ruston rushed out today saying that she would name and shame. Well quite frankly Patricia, she’s been saying that for one year now. I had a letter from a survivor today. And I spoke to him on the phone. And he has lodged his claim ten months ago and cannot get any transparency at all from the government, about when it’s going to be processed.
KARVELAS: The Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said this morning that all bets are off. 50 organisations who’ve been dragging their feet on joining the scheme missed that June 30 deadline – also saying that they’d be named and shamed. Is that good enough? That kind of penalty?
BURNEY: Anne Ruston has been saying this for 12 months – for a very long time. I want to know what the consequences are; who has signed up – we know there are over 300 organisations that haven’t signed up. But the other thing of course is, what is on the table? Is it tax deductibility? Is it cutting off funding to these organisations? If these organisations are small, and insolvent, at least let them come forward and say ‘we want to be part of the moral responsibility that we hold.’
KARVELAS: So what does Labor think should happen? What kind of penalties? You’ve mentioned a few. What do you think would work best?
BURNEY: Well, I think everything has to be on the table Patricia. And that does include the tax status of organisations. Some of these organisations get a lot of money from both the state and the federal government. But there is just no transparency at all. None, in terms of the what the government says are the serious consequences should be. What Labor was saying very clearly is an early advance payment for those that are old and ill. And we’re also saying that the cap should be $200,000 – not the $150,000 that’s been negotiated between the states and the territories. We want indexation looked at, but we want transparency most of all. People should know how long it’s going to take for their claims to be processed.
KARVELAS: Just finally, I want to talk about another element of your portfolio if we can – that’s the unemployment benefit, the welfare system. The Prime Minister has again ruled out extending that JobSeeker payment increase – the payment that was doubled for those who don’t recall for the pandemic period. What’s your view about where that payment should go? You think it should taper down to a higher rate? What should that rate be?
BURNEY: Well, two things from that Patricia. First of all, Scott Morrison talks about this ‘snapback’ and even people like Ken Henry spoke today about taking what was the Newstart payment back to its original $550 a fortnight. I think that’s going to be an extremely difficult thing for the government to do. I mean, if it was ok to live on $40 a day before the pandemic, why have they increased it now? There are going to be economic impacts as well. But the really important point is, how many people lost their job between the government announcing JobSeeker, and then over a week later, announcing JobKeeper? The real question is how many people lost their jobs in that period?
KARVELAS: I know tomorrow you’ll be scrutinising the committee looking at these issues around welfare. What are the questions you want answered?
BURNEY: We want to know when the government decided to do the wage subsidy. We want to know what they’re really talking about in terms of the so called ‘snapback’. But some of the other questions importantly are when decisions were made about an enormous economic spend, and how the government intends to take that forward.
KARVELAS: Linda Burney, thanks for joining us.
LINDA BURNEY
TRANSCRIPT - WEDNESDAY, 29 APRIL 2020