The Greens say it will be almost impossible to account for the social and economic costs of the Government's punitive Robodebt program. 

“This program has literally cost people's lives, ruined many many more and caused so much pain and anguish. 

“I am pleased that it looks like the Government will have to compensate victims of the illegal Robodebt scheme but nothing can truly compensate people for the distress this has caused. 

“I raised this issue in the Senate on Monday and as late as yesterday people were telling me they were still being contacted about debts. 

Government must use a common sense approach to Centrelink and suspend reporting requirements and mutual obligations for people already on Centrelink until COVID-19 crisis has passed
 
The Greens say the Government must use common sense and suspend the requirement for people on income support payments to report their income every fortnight and complete mutual obligations while the system is so overburdened during the COVID-19 crisis. 
 

The Australian Greens say they are pleased that new Jobseekers won’t be condemned to the Cashless Debit Card and have renewed their commitment to seeing the end of the Cashless Debit Card and compulsory income management. 

"Today my office has been inundated with calls and emails from people unable to report their income through MyGov and who have not been paid on time or fear their payments will be cut.

"I have been working with the Minister to get this fixed. I’m very pleased that mutual obligations have been suspended until at least 31 March.

More than 250,000 Australians will have an extra $550 a fortnight to get through the Coronavirus crisis, after the Greens pushed the government to extend a crucial supplementary payment that had omitted Australia’s students.

Following questioning from Senator Rachel Siewert and Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Matthias Cormann said the government would now immediately regulate to make Abstudy, Austudy, and Youth Allowance (Student) eligible for the Coronavirus Supplement.

Lines from Adam Bandt MP, Leader of the Australian Greens:

The Greens have circulated amendments in the senate to make sure no-one is disadvantaged by the Government’s stimulus package. 

The Greens will seek the support of the senate to: 

"The Government has finally listened to the community and all those living in poverty who have been crying out for an increase to Newstart for years and years now.

"It shouldn’t have taken a crisis like this to show compassion and increase the Jobseeker payment.

"An increase to the jobseeker payment must be long term and permanent. It is absolutely untenable to drop people back onto $40 a day once this crisis period has passed.

The Greens say the Government’s proposed changes to mutual obligations miss the point. Many people on Newstart don’t have or are unable to afford the infrastructure to just “go online”.

"The changes to mutual obligations are not good enough, people can request online interviews and meetings but that doesn’t account for people who don’t have or just can’t afford the infrastructure to enable this.

"People on Newstart (now Jobseeker payment) are living on $40 a day. How can the government be sure they have access to a home computer and the internet at home?

COVID-19 has the potential to cause severe harm to First Nations communities particularly in regional and remote areas, older Australians, disabled people and people with mental health issues.

“Preventing and slowing the spread of the virus to First Nations communities must be a priority given that First Nations communities already suffer higher rates of chronic and respiratory illness than the general population,” Senator Rachel Siewert, spokesperson on First Nations issues said.

The Greens have repeated their calls for the Government to delay changes to Newstart and the Sickness Allowance in the face of the COVID-19 crisis saying that Centrelink lacks the resources to adequately deal with the changes and the increased workload resulting from the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis.
 
From tomorrow, Newstart Allowance, Sickness Allowance, Wife Pension, Bereavement Allowance and Widow B Pension are set to cease and most recipients of these payments will transition to Jobseeker Payment, Age Pension or Carer Payment.