The Greens have said that Anglicare Australia’s latest Rental Affordability Snapshot update, released today, has shown that only a tiny percentage of rentals (1 percent or less) are affordable for Australians on low incomes, and this will only get worse if the JobSeeker payment is reduced in the coming months. 

Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Australian Greens Housing spokesperson, said:

 The Senate Community Affairs References committee have tabled their second interim report into Centrelink's Income Compliance Program known as robodebt. 
 

 The Greens have circulated a second reading amendment in the Senate to the Government’s Coronavirus Economic Response Package (Jobkeeper Payments) Amendment Bill 2020 seeking the support of the Senate to continue the current rate of the $550 coronavirus supplement. 
 
It is untenable to cut the Jobseeker payment by $300 in September, taking it below the poverty line. 
 
There are 1.8 million people on Jobseeker and Youth Allowance and we are looking at a 13% effective unemployment rate by Christmas. 
 

The Greens say they are very concerned about gag clauses in participation and land use agreements and the impact they have on the ability of Traditional Owners to raise objections to development proposals. 

“Today we heard from witnesses to the Juukan Gorge inquiry that confidential participation agreements with “gag clauses” negotiated before or during the signing of Land Use Agreements with Traditional Owners are “potentially illegal” and impinge on basic human rights” said Senator Rachel Siewert, Greens spokesperson on First Nation issues.

The Greens say that the community has lost confidence in the Government's ability to manage aged care calling their handling of the crisis and failure to take responsibility a debacle.

“Aged care is a debacle in this country,” Greens spokesperson on Ageing Senator Rachel Siewert said.

“We have no national coordinating body to address the COVID crisis in aged care.  

“We have a regulator that is not regulating effectively.

“We have a Government failing on workforce.

The Greens say evidence given to the Royal Commission into Aged Care and statements of the Prime Minister have become utterly contradictory. 

“The aged care disaster in Australia lands squarely at Scott Morrison’s doorstep,” Greens Leader, Adam Bandt said.

“The Greens, aged care advocates and now the special council to the Royal Commission have pointed out, in no uncertain terms, that this was a predictable outcome of government inaction and neglect."

The Greens say that the Government is failing the growing number of people out of work by cutting the Jobseeker payment at the end of September and failing to provide certainty to people looking for work.

The Greens say that Mr Ramsey’s comments on people doing it tough have no place in our community and that he should apologise. He is continuing the Government’s long tradition of using anecdotal evidence to set policy.

These are disgraceful comments to make about people doing it tough during a pandemic.

Questions to Prime Minster and Cabinet today at the COVID hearing have shown that despite the aged care crisis the Government is not doing enough to ensure that all aged care providers around Australia are completely prepared. 
 
"It’s pretty obvious that prevention is better than cure and after speaking to the Department today I have very little confidence that they are taking an appropriate leadership role. 
 
"We cannot just wait around, rely on self-assessment by providers on their readiness for an outbreak, there needs to be action around the country. 
 

The Greens say that the Government's failure to deliver certainty to people on income support is cruel and unfair and undermines confidence in the economy.
 
"The Government should abandon its plans to cut the Jobseeker supplement by $300 at the end of September and increase Jobseeker permanently", Greens spokesperson on Family and Community Services Senator Rachel Siewert said.
 
Keeping Jobseeker above the poverty line will save people's lives and their livelihoods.