E&OE TRANSCRIPT
Topics: Economic development funding for Cape York, Cashless Debit Card program, JobSeeker, Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee
CHARLIE MCKILLOP, HOST: The Cape York peninsula has been at the forefront of welfare reforms that have been going on now for pretty much the best part of two decades. You might remember that it was the communities of Hope Vale, Coen, Aurukun and Mossman Gorge which were among the first in the country to adopt the Cashless Debit Card. So, when the Federal Government decided to scrap that card it did leave the question, what will be the future for those communities and others across Australia? Importantly, in Cape York, the Family Responsibilities Commission will retain all of its powers, including the ability to refer community members onto income management. But without a Cashless Debit Card, what exactly will that look like in future? To tell us, Federal Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth is with you now on ABC Far North Breakfast. Minister, I guess welfare reform has been such a vexed issue for such a long time. What makes you believe your Government has finally got it right?
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: Well, I guess a couple of things. Firstly, we have very much, as we've worked through abolishing the Cashless Debit Card program, which in other communities – not in the Cape York – just applied to anyone that was on an income support payment. With the Family Responsibilities Commission, we really listened to that Commission and tailored a solution through the Smart Card that actually meets the community's needs. But when I was speaking with people in Cape York, what became really clear is that is not the beginning and end of the matter. We need to support communities when it comes to financial literacy and financial empowerment. And so when I was talking with communities, it became very clear that some of the initiatives that they'd been investing in, particularly the Cape York Institute as part of the mobile O-Hubs and the O-Hubs model. This was really about supporting people to get on top of their finances and get some financial independence and communities made clear this was something that we needed to look at investing in.
CHARLIE MCKILLOP: Sorry, Minister. What's an O-Hub for the uninitiated?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: O-Hubs have been set up through the Cape York Institute and they are hubs which provide people in communities with some advice and some financial literacy. But they are also offering a number of savings products and tools that help you get on top of your finances. So, things that encourage saving, things that encourage budgeting. This is about empowering people, not just telling people ‘here's your money’, but actually empowering people to take control of their finances. These O-Hubs are in communities – there's a number across Cape York, and importantly, they are staffed by local people, locals that use and have experienced this type of support before. It's a really good model. And as a result of some extra money that was made available to communities, I'm really pleased we're able to announce an extra $2 million for the O-Hub model to expand.
CHARLIE MCKILLOP: Everything I've ever heard about welfare reform, and even the previous Cashless Debit Card, was that it was about empowering families to make the right decisions about the way they spend their money. Without that card, how are you going to be sure that welfare payments are being spent on things that they're intended for household necessities, not drugs and alcohol?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: I have to be clear that the feedback I got from people was that for some people that worked and for other people that didn't. And in Cape York, the Family Responsibilities Commission pays close attention to who that might work for and who that might not work for. There is an income management tool available, but what I heard in other communities is when it was blanketly applied, it was not actually empowering people at all. In fact, for many people, it felt constraining and they weren't able to make best use of their money. And so getting to understand how to budget is not solved just alone by income management. It does require getting on top of your finances and understanding how to budget, how to make sure that you're able to put money away and save. I mean, that is irrespective of what you spend your money on. Actually being able to put money away and save and be rewarded for that. If we think about financial literacy and actually how we empower people to take control of their finances, it is much more than income management and that's what these O-Hubs do.
CHARLIE MCKILLOP: Federal Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth is talking about O-Hubs – Opportunity Hubs – one of the community led solutions being put forward by the Cape York Institute. Minister, what about other disadvantaged communities in the Cape York Peninsula, maybe ones that aren't so closely aligned with the Cape York Institute and its programs? Don't they deserve Opportunity Hubs as well?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: I do understand that the Cape York Institute is continuing to build relationships with other organisations. What our funding will do will actually allow for a mobile O-Hub that allows a truck to get out to communities, which is very important. But certainly I know that the Institute is working with other organisations to see how this type of service and this type of model can be expanded.
CHARLIE MCKILLOP: In terms of the general achievement progress being made, can you understand why people do still feel a deep sense of frustration about the lack of progress being made after, what is it, two decades nearly, of welfare reforms in Cape York?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Absolutely – across the country, I think a lot of people are frustrated about the lack of progress we have made in shifting the dial on things like life expectancy for our First Nations people. So, we do have to start listening to community-led solutions. That's why I certainly have respected the Family Responsibilities Commission and its role and we've had some really good conversations about that. But that's why these community-led solutions are also so important. I didn't come up with the idea of O-Hubs, the government didn't come up with the idea of O-Hubs – it came from the community itself. And that's the sort of working together that we need to promote if we are going to shift the dial on some of those gaps that we see between our broader population and, of course, our First Nations population.
CHARLIE MCKILLOP: Minister Rishworth, just finally, on Tuesday alongside the Treasurer Jim Chalmers, you released a report of the Interim Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee, which found that the dire level of JobSeeker is really acting as a barrier to entering the workforce. And there have been calls, long term calls now, for a lift in the JobSeeker payment. Why won't your Government do that?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Of course we are looking at everything we can do to support people. We are not financially, after we were given a trillion dollars of debt by the former government, able to do everything we need to at once. But we're going through the budget process. The EIAC did really important work and they made 37 recommendations. A significant number of recommendations, of course, income support payments was at the top. And we'll keep working through the budget process as we work through all the competing priorities that we have as part of that process.
CHARLIE MCKILLOP: Minister Rishworth thank you very much for being a part of the program this morning.
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Thanks so much.