Page 5320 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 15 November 2011
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majority of our community, but we acknowledge that there are a number of households, an increasing number of households, that need some extra assistance.
If the government is going to be in a position to offer extra assistance, we need to do the work. But we need to make sure that the work is targeted. You just cannot have a blanket approach to government assistance. There are many people in this community who do not need any extra government assistance, but that is not denying that there are some that need extra. And probably the ones that need extra are the ones that earn less than the average weekly wage and sit above the concessions threshold. They are the people that I was talking about with the community sector partners that came and met with me. They said, “There are some things you can do immediately about looking at how people pay.” Fines and bills to the government were one of the issues—and putting in instalments.
I acknowledge the work of Care financial counselling service, who have done a lot of work in supporting the ideas that they put to the government in this area. They asked us to look at socially responsible banking products. The way we can do that is to leverage that as part of our banking contract. If a bank wants our work, we want to make sure that it is providing other community benefits with that work. It is one of the ways the government can use its size to try and benefit the rest of the community.
Another area was looking at how we use our purchasing power to support government organisations that are purchasing products for their constituencies and whether we can look at the purchasing power and the role of the government in that to support them with their work. They also suggested that we look at expanding food bank arrangements, particularly out into Tuggeranong. I think there is general agreement that they do need to be expanded, and I am hoping that there will be expanded services in place shortly.
In terms of some of the extra work that the financial counselling sector are doing, we are going to provide them with an extra $60,000 to provide additional outreach services for their organisation. Based on their advice, I believe that work can start in March next year. Again, Care will tell you that it is not about people just wanting money from the government. It is about people understanding how to manage their costs and manage their household budgets. Care are in an excellent position to do that.
We have heard a lot from the Leader of the Opposition and the shadow treasurer around the issue of the rego surcharge. I was out of the chamber, but I understand that the Leader of the Opposition described it as a poor tax, a disgraceful tax. What he did not say, and I am not sure why the Liberal Party has not said this to date, is that it is a tax that Brendan Smyth introduced back in 1998. It was not a Labor tax. Yes, it is a charge that has existed, but it was actually Brendan Smyth’s bright idea. Let me look at what Brendan said then and what he says now. He said:
Three-month registration should give people greater flexibility and make it easier for those who may have difficulty paying a lump sum in conjunction with all their other household bills.
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