Senator WONG (2:00 PM) —My question is to Senator Abetz, the Minister representing the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations. Is the minister aware of the new report released today by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, or NATSEM, an organisation which the Prime Minister has described as respected, independent and objective? Is the minister aware that this respected institute has found that people with a disability will lose up to $122 a week under the Howard government’s extreme changes to welfare? How can the minister look people with a disability in the eye and say he is helping them when the government is clawing away money they desperately need? How can the minister stand by the Prime Minister’s feeble claim that these changes do not punish people?

Senator ABETZ (Special Minister of State) —First of all, I do not think anything the Prime Minister has ever said or done could be described as feeble, so allow me at the outset to repudiate that assertion that was made by Senator Wong. The other thing that needs to be set out is that no-one currently on the disability support pension will be affected in any way, shape or form. Senator Wong and the Australian Labor Party are playing yet again their classic scare tactic. Currently there are some 707,000 people on the disability support pension, a trebling of the numbers over the past 25 years.

The existing disability support pension criteria are out of step with community expectations. The reality is that the capacity of people with disabilities to work varies enormously. Australians believe that people should be asked to support themselves in keeping with their capacity. That is why we as a government have said that those that can work for 15 hours or more should be encouraged through incentives to participate in the work force, and that is exactly what we are seeking to do with our Welfare to Work program and initiatives. The government is acting to maintain the integrity of our system for those who need it the most. Those requirements to undertake work will not be made of those that have genuine disabilities and are unable to undertake work.

Can I also indicate to the Senate that over a million people with disabilities are working now. We want to help more people increase their income through work and not hold them back. Mr President, you and I know a startling example of a person with very serious disabilities, one Erick Pastoor, who was the Liberal candidate for Denison at the last federal election. He was an inspiration to many people. Erick Pastoor is a man with significant physical disabilities as a result of a disease that he unfortunately contracted, but he was absolutely motivated to get back to work. The disability support pension was a very important safety net for him and is something that we as a government will maintain.

We are determined to assist people and motivate people. Sure, there are some people in the community like Erick Pastoor that do not need that sort of motivation, but there are some others that do need some encouragement with incentives to ascertain how much they are actually able to work. In other words, we concentrate on their abilities, rather than what the Labor Party does—that is, concentrate on their disabilities. We look at people differently from those on the other side. We look at a person and ask: ‘What is their inherent worth? What are they able to do?’ as opposed to those on the other side, who look at a person and ask, ‘What sort of disabilities do they have?’ It is a completely different approach. The government is committed to making sure that every Australian has the opportunity and support needed to get and keep a job. We on this side support the Welfare to Work program and believe that it is an important social reform.

Senator WONG —Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I ask that the minister address the primary issue contained in the question, which he completely avoided: why is this government taking back $122 a week from people with a disability, as indicated by the independent NATSEM report? Does the minister agree that this report comes on top of evidence issued by NATSEM earlier this month that showed that sole parent families will be up to $91 a week worse off under the government’s changes? With these two independent reports showing that the government’s extreme welfare changes will inflict terrible hardship on vulnerable Australians, isn’t it time for the minister to step up to the plate, admit the government has stuffed it up and fix the mess that it has made?

Senator ABETZ (Special Minister of State) —Firstly, I repeat for the benefit of Senator Wong and those opposite: the government is not taking anything back. Current beneficiaries will retain exactly what they have today. Let us dispense with that nonsense that Senator Wong and her colleagues are trying to peddle. Secondly, I indicate that, to help people get ahead, the government is in fact spending money, $555 million, in new and expanded employment services. This includes over 101,000 new rehabilitation and employment assistance places to meet the various needs of job seekers with disabilities. Unlike those on the other side, who would just leave them on the disability support pension and not worry about their abilities, we say, ‘Let’s look at their abilities, invest in their abilities and mainstream them into Australian society, where the overwhelming majority of them want to be.’ (Time expired)