Minister Vanstone must go further in protecting the vulnerable from breaching

Catholic Welfare Australia today welcomed some of the initiatives announced by Minister Vanstone aimed at protecting vulnerable job seekers from the devastating impact of Social Security breaches and penalties.

National Director of Catholic Welfare Australia, Mr Toby O’Connor said, "It is encouraging to hear Minister Vanstone's recognition that current arrangements are too tough on the most vulnerable.  The Government should be supported in reforms that improve the system's treatment of disadvantaged job seekers and ensure breach penalties are not imposed without good reason"

While welcoming some of the Ministers key proposals, Mr O'Connor called for further detail.

"A key problem with the current system is that a majority of job seekers are penalised for failing to attend initial interviews with Centrelink or Job Network providers.  The Minister's proposal for the temporary suspension of payments until clients attend will be worthwhile only if flaws in the current referral process are addressed and subsequent interviews with clients genuinely take into account their circumstances,” said Mr O’Connor.  “It would be totally unacceptable if this proposal worsened the already high levels of breaching because the needs of vulnerable job seekers were not properly taken into account.”

"Also welcomed is the reduction of penalties for clients who fail to attend interviews.  In the past job seekers could incur a penalty of up to $1,400 for missing an interview or arriving late.  Under new arrangements, people in this situation will face a lesser 'administrative' breach penalty of around $300."

However, Mr O'Connor added, "While these reforms are an improvement to current arrangements, even the slightest reduction in payments will continue to cause significant hardship for recipients who are trying to make ends meet on poverty level payments.  These vulnerable individuals and their families remain at risk of being pushed further into poverty.

"Much more needs to be done to improve the conditions and prospects of vulnerable job seekers.  Clearly, something is wrong with a system that continues to reap massive budgetary savings of over $200 million each year through the application of breach penalties at the same time as it has been proven that well under under 0.1% of income support recipients are actually rorting the system."

Mr O'Connor concluded, "I urge the Minister to remain open to the findings and recommendations of the Independent Review of Breaches and Penalties that are due for release next week."

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