The Australian Greens have deep concerns for new migrants granted certain permanent visas after the Promoting Sustainable Welfare Bill (formerly Encouraging Self-sufficiency for Newly Arrived Migrants Bill 2018) passed the Senate this evening.

“The Labor party is now complicit in making migrants wait four years to access Newstart and it didn’t have to be this way, Senator Rachel Siewert said.

“Let’s make one thing clear, we had the numbers to block this – if Labor had bothered to even ask the Greens and the cross-bench.

The Australian Greens were pleased to hear at Estimates in October that the Government had ceased the 90,000 reviews of people on DSP and the ANAO report released yesterday reveals just how ineffective this cash grab was.

“The Australian Greens have deep concerns for new migrants granted certain permanent visas after the Promoting Sustainable Welfare Bill (formerly Encouraging Self-sufficiency for Newly Arrived Migrants Bill 2018) was rushed through the House.

“Once again we have legislation by stealth – here we have one bill, Encouraging Self-Sufficiency for Newly Arrived Migrants – magically turned into the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Promoting Sustainable Welfare) Bill 2018 with significant amendments dumped on the cross-bench at the very last minute.

The Australian Greens support First Nations peoples and their calls for a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament before Australians are asked to vote in a plebiscite on whether to become a republic.

“We can’t move to become a republic before we have justice for First Nations peoples, that includes enshrining the Voice before we vote on a republic. We have unfinished business in this country that must be addressed. 

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission Bill 2018 has today passed the Senate with Government amendments addressing concerns raised by the Greens and stakeholders during the committee process.

“While the Greens supported the Bill and were pleased to see the Government amend it, we are disappointed that some important areas remain unaddressed, such as specifically referencing older Australian’s human rights and reporting on staff numbers, Senator Rachel Siewert said.

The Senate has today supported a Greens motion for the Minster to provide the independent review by KPMG of the Serco pilot program at Centrelink by 26 November.

“If the Government is going to use this report to justify expanding the outsourcing of Centrelink jobs to private contractors, then the public need to see it, Senator Rachel Siewert, Greens spokesperson on family and community service said today.

The Australian Greens welcome the Government’s back tracking on their cruel and callous funding cuts to Foodbank.  

“The cuts were outrageous and it boggles the mind that the Government thought they could get away with cutting funding from Foodbank, Senator Rachel Siewert said. 

“This is an appalling approach to policy making – seeing what you can get away with and then reversing the cuts when there is public outcry.

Last night the crossbench had the opportunity to reduce some of the harsh impacts of the Welfare Reform Bill that passed the Parliament in March this year by supporting the Greens’ disallowance motions on some of the legislative instruments that implement some of the measures. Measures that punish people in our community, simply because they are out of work or have a an addiction, Senator Rachel Siewert said.

The Australian Greens want answers and transparency on why on there is such a wide gap between what the Government is saying their “secret” KPMG report says about Serco call centre works and Centrelink staff are actually reporting.

“We know that Centrelink is hitting a crisis point and things are getting worse and worse but the Government is trying to hide behind their secret reports. We want that report released and will move an order for production of documents for its release,  Australian Greens spokesperson on community services Senator Rachel Siewert said.