Paul Scarr voted strongly for decreasing availability of welfare payments

That the Senate—

(a) notes that this is the last sitting week before the Federal Budget will be handed down on 6 October 2020;

(b) recognises that the poverty rate for people on JobSeeker Payment dropped from 67% to 6.8% after the introduction of the $550 Coronavirus Supplement;

(c) acknowledges that, when the Coronavirus Supplement is cut by $300 a fortnight on 25 September 2020:

(i) the number of people in poverty will increase by 740,000,

(ii) people in our community will be in mortgage stress and rental affordability will plummet to 0.2% for people on JobSeeker Payment, and

(iii) more than 1.1 million children will be living in households that have their incomes cut;

(d) recognises the importance of leaders showing support for unemployed workers during these times; and

(e) calls on the Government to:

(i) maintain the rate of the Coronavirus Supplement of $550 a fortnight to ensure people on income support do not slip into poverty during this pandemic and recovery; and

(ii) include adequate increases to income support in the October Budget that ensure that people on income support can live above the poverty line.

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) it is women who remain disproportionately more likely to arrange childcare and are assessed under the Government's 'activity test' to access childcare support, and

(ii) under the government's 'activity test', only parents who undertake approved courses of education or study meet the activity test requirements;

(b) considers that:

(i) it wrong that parents studying Masters degrees or PhDs that are not approved by the government do not meet the activity test requirements, and

(ii) this discriminates against women participating in education; and

(c) calls on the Federal Government to extend eligibility for childcare support to all parents undertaking education or study.