Category Archives: Welfare

Email reveals top bureaucrat pressed ombudsman to delete comments questioning robodebt’s legality

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Correspondence published by inquiry show then Human Services head told federal watchdog she was concerned about comments due to an ongoing court hearing and wanted them removed

The former head of the Department of Human Services pressured the commonwealth ombudsman to delete language questioning the legality of the robodebt scheme from a key report, according to emails published by a royal commission.

The commission is investigating why the former Coalition government’s unlawful welfare debt recovery scheme was established in 2015 and ran until November 2019, ending in a $1.8bn settlement with hundreds of thousands of victims.

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Disabled people left short in universal credit move may get compensation

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Court rules against DWP in case where move to universal credit deprived claimants of £2,100 a year

Tens of thousands of disabled people across the UK wrongly deprived of benefits by the Department for Work and Pensions could share in compensation potentially totalling about £150m after an appeal court ruling.

Lawyers for two disabled men who first took the DWP to court five years ago have written to the government asking them to set out how they will compensate them and others who were left hundreds of pounds out of pocket each year after being moved on to universal credit.

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Superannuation tax breaks will cost budget $52bn, almost matching Australia’s age pension

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New analysis calls for major changes including restrictions on concessions as the country risks having ‘two classes of state-funded retirees’

Tax breaks for superannuation will cost the federal budget $52.5bn this financial year, almost as much as the aged pension, according to a new analysis.

A research paper by the Australia Institute argues that since super tax concessions cost almost as much as the $55.3bn spent on the pension, Australia has “two classes of state-funded retirees in Australia”.

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Capsule found after ‘needle in a haystack’ search – as it happened

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The deputy prime minister and defence minister, Richard Marles, spoke to ABC AM Radio from London following a meeting with the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak.

Marles would not be drawn into whether he discussed with Sunak the possibility of Australia acquiring British built nuclear submarines under the Aukus deal but said when the announcement is made it will be a “genuinely trilateral effort.”

Prime Minister Sunak commented on just how full the agenda is between our two countries and how much that is making – perhaps our oldest and most historic relationship – one which is deeply relevant in in the contemporary moment and certainly Aukus is central to that.

And we’re close to announcement and I’m not about to preempt that now. But I think what you’ll see is when we ultimately do announce the optimal pathway that we’ve been working on with both the United States and United Kingdom, that what it really is, is a genuinely trilateral effort to see by the UK and the US provide Australia with a nuclear powered submarine capability.

We’re confident that what we will be announcing in the coming weeks is a pathway that will be able to be delivered by all partners on time.

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‘Storm the house’: Queensland care home receives threats after being wrongly identified as halfway house

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Online posts urge violence against residents in care home after it was described as a place for ‘youth offenders’

Children living in a Queensland residential care home were the subject of death threats on social media – including calls for neighbours to “storm the house” and “hang whoever is inside” – after media reports incorrectly claimed the premises was a halfway house for young criminals.

The head of the Queensland family and child commission, Scott Twyford, said last week he was “deeply concerned” at public sentiment which called for more punitive responses to youth crime in the face of clear evidence that “tough” approaches don’t work.

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Inflation-driven higher education debt increases to hit millions of Australians

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Even under the most conservative scenario, modelling suggests average Help debt will increase by at least $1700 when indexed on 1 June

Millions of Australians with Higher Education Loan Program (Help) loans could face thousands of dollars in extra debt this year as soaring inflation hits the education sector.

Independent modelling provided to Guardian Australia suggests Australians with an average Help debt of $24,770.75 will face an increase of at least $1,700 when it is next indexed on 1 June, assuming, as is likely, that living costs remain high.

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Linda Reynolds sends formal defamation complaint to Brittany Higgins’s partner – as it happened

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Ukrainian loss would embolden leaders in Pacific region, ambassador says

The ambassador of Ukraine to Australia and New Zealand, Vasyl Myroshnychenko, stresses that the reason Australia’s assistance needs to continue is because it’s in Australia’s interests to support the Ukraine:

The reason why we need to keep up and step up that assistance because this war in Ukraine is disrupting everything. It’s really undermined security, regionally, globally.

It’s having a major impact on your partners here in the region. Look at Indonesia. I mean, they are really suffering from the lack of food that can get on their market. They have 275 million people to feed and they really rely on grain from Ukraine, which now they have a hard time getting hold of as the prices have surged. We’ve seen the impact on the energy markets on the volatility of the commodity markets.

What’s important is that Australia continues to support Ukraine. We are truly thankful for what Australia has done so far, especially the last package which was announced in October where another 30 Bushmasters were allocated and the troops which are now in Britain have already been able to train Ukrainian soldiers. It’s really a big help.

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Children in Australia’s poorest households have about 10% chance of becoming top earners

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Treasury research finds most severe poverty is ‘particularly entrenched’ but children far more likely to progress than in US

Children born into Australia’s poorest households will have little more than a 10% chance of becoming top income earners in their lifetime, according to new Treasury research.

But Treasury research on intergenerational income mobility, to be released on Friday, found children in the bottom fifth of households were “60% more likely” to make this leap than in the US, where just 7.5% make it into the top fifth by income.

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Disabled people among hardest hit by cost of living crisis, finds study

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People with disabilities more likely to cut back on energy use and food, Resolution Foundation says

Disabled people in the UK are much more likely to struggle to heat their homes and cut back on food this winter, according to a report highlighting “massive” income gaps amid the cost of living squeeze.

Research from the Resolution Foundation found people with disabilities had an available amount to spend that was about 44% lower than that of other working-age adults, exposing them hugely to the rising cost of essentials.

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Labor under renewed pressure to axe stage-three tax cuts as Australia’s budget woes mount

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The party voted in support of tax cuts while in opposition and went to the election promising no changes to the policy

Warnings from the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, that Australia’s economy is slowing and that the population is ageing have prompted calls to scrap the stage-three tax cuts.

Chalmers said the latest Australian population data showed an ageing population continues to present a demographic challenge for Australia and the budget, with the government having to keep one eye on current challenges, while the other focuses on longer term needs in health, pensions and support services.

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‘Morally questionable’: compliance element should be scrapped from controversial ParentsNext scheme, MPs told

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Human Rights Commission says aspects of ParentsNext program have the ‘effect of penalising parents, overwhelmingly mothers’

Job agencies running the contentious ParentsNext program have called on the Albanese government to scrap compliance from the scheme, with one suggesting the current system is “morally questionable”.

In submissions to a parliamentary inquiry looking at the employment services system, the Human Rights Commission has also argued stopping social security payments under the program was “contrary to Australia’s human rights obligations”.

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Packet noodles or leftover pizza: the harsh reality of Christmas for Australians on welfare

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For many struggling to survive on jobseeker payments, the yuletide celebration is just another day

Justin Seymour tries to switch off this time of year. “Around big holidays like Christmas, I try to shut it all out,” he said. “I see ads on YouTube … ‘I’m going to be spending Christmas with my family, I’m going to be having this amazing time.’ It makes me depressed.”

Seymour, 28, is one of about 3.3 million people in Australia, including 761,000 children, who will likely spend Christmas in poverty, according to the latest research from University of New South Wales and the Australian Council of Social Service.

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Single-parent families falling $200 a week short of meeting living expenses in Queensland

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Queensland Council of Social Services report reveals rental costs, inflation and inadequate welfare payments squeezing household budgets

Thousands of low-income families in Queensland don’t have enough money to meet basic living or dietary standards due to surging rental costs and inadequate welfare payments, according to a report.

Queensland Council of Social Services modelling shows unemployed single parents and families where only one parent is able to work are the most vulnerable to financial shocks, emergencies or unplanned expenses.

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Robodebt inquiry: Scott Morrison says it’s ‘distressing’ ministers not warned about scheme’s legal risks

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Former prime minister tells royal commission that public servants had ‘obligation and duty’ to disclose issues with debt recovery plan

Scott Morrison has disputed that public servants felt pressure not to inform him of legal risks about the robodebt scheme, telling a royal commission they had an “obligation and duty” to warn ministers of problems and it was “distressing” they never did.

The commission is investigating why and how the unlawful Centrelink debt recovery scheme was established in 2015 and ran until November 2019, ending in a $1.8bn settlement with hundreds of thousands of victims.

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Former PM grilled at royal commission – as it happened

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Balancing the budget

Senior counsel assisting, Justin Greggery has asked Scott Morrison whether or not balancing the budget was a priority. Morrison says it should always be a priority. He then goes on to state that it was something his government was able to achieve just before the pandemic hit.

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Scott Morrison in the spotlight: what will the former PM be asked at the robodebt royal commission?

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Morrison is likely to be asked what he knew about the scheme when it was devised, why he was attracted to it – and what he did when it came under fire

Former prime minister Scott Morrison will appear at the royal commission into the robodebt scheme on Wednesday.

Morrison was the social services minister when the program was devised and launched, treasurer when it was expanded and prime minister when it faced two legal challenges.

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Australia news live: Queensland police pay tribute to two officers killed in ‘absolutely devastating’ shooting ambush

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Two police officers and another member of the public were shot dead at a Wieambilla property, then two men and a woman were killed by police late last night. Follow the day’s news live

Police officers who were shot and killed on a regional Queensland property were searching for a New South Wales man last seen by his family almost a year ago, Guardian Australia understands.

On Monday, four officers attended the remote property at Wieambilla in the Western Downs region in connection with the disappearance of Nathaniel Train, 46, from Dubbo in NSW.

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Senator says plan ‘a Band-Aid on a festering wound’ – as it happened

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Severe weather warning for damaging winds in NSW and Victoria

Several children have been injured after a firework shot into a crowd during a Christmas event in Sydney’s northern beaches last night.

An 11-year-old boy was initially taken to Royal North Shore hospital, before being transferred to the Children’s hospital at Westmead for treatment of burns and a chest injury.

An eight-year-old girl was taken to Northern Beaches hospital for treatment of burns and a wrist injury. She has since been released.

Police have been told a 12-year-old boy was taken to hospital by his parents for treatment to minor burns and has since been released, and six other people were treated on scene by NSW Rural Fire Service for minor injuries, and left prior to the arrival of paramedics and police.

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Robodebt royal commission told ‘misrepresentation may have made its way into the cabinet’

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Bureaucrats from March 2015 insisted in documents that scheme would ‘not change’ how welfare overpayments were calculated, inquiry hears

Bureaucrats misrepresented the robodebt scheme in cabinet documents prepared for the 2015 budget, apparently paving the way for the unlawful program to be set up, a royal commission has heard.

The inquiry is investigating why and how the unlawful Centrelink debt recovery scheme was established in 2015 and ran until November 2019, ending in a $1.8bn settlement with hundreds of thousands of victims.

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Dutton given official warning by Speaker – as it happened

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How can strengthening federal laws stop the destruction of sacred heritage sites?

Tanya Plibersek:

I think I think it’s really worth having a look at the two inquiries that the the parliament undertook into the Juukan Gorge destruction because it describes not just the failure of laws, but the failure of process and the failure of people to listen and that happened at the commonwealth level and it also happened at the West Australian state government level.

The other thing that it describes is a company that paid lip service to consultation and really, you know, really didn’t do what it should have done when Aboriginal people said you can’t blow up caves that are 46,000 years old, that have examples of continuous use and habitation that you know, the site of finds like a 4,000-year-old hair belt, and tools that are tens of thousands of years old.

There’s absolutely a sense of urgency to ensure that this sort of cultural heritage destruction doesn’t happen again.

I completely agree with that, but a very strong message from the the First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance is also that they genuinely want to sit at the table to work through these issues in partnership and cooperation.

Yeah, I’m not going to put I’m not going to put a timeline on it yet. I think that’s something that we determined as we work through the complexity of these issues, and there are a lot of complexities involved.

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