Senate estimates hearing shows Minister Watt must do whatever is necessary to end “mutual” obligations
Further revelations that this system may not even be lawful is enough to end “mutual” obligations once and for all.
A senate estimates hearing yesterday revealed the government is unsure whether it is lawfully operating the Targeted Compliance Framework, the system of penalties applied to Centrelink recipients with “mutual” obligations.
Included below: comments from welfare rights activist Jeremy Poxon and Antipoverty Centre spokesperson Jay Coonan; crisis line contact information.
Both the Minister for Employment and Secretary from the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations were unable to say that the “mutual” obligations system is operating lawfully, nor do they have a clear pathway out of this mess.
The Antipoverty Centre and welfare advocates do not believe that the Secretary and Minister for Employment have no power to protect welfare recipients by pausing the Targeted Compliance Framework when the lawfulness of the system is in doubt, as they claimed yesterday. If they wanted to stop this system, they could find a way.
“Mutual” obligations is a deeply immoral and harmful system designed to punish people for being poor and on this basis alone it should end, but now there are legal questions surrounding the operation of the system. It is untenable for any party or person to support or defend this system.
There is currently a Commonwealth Ombudsman investigation underway into the administration of the Targeted Compliance Framework. The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations legal team are conducting an internal review and have commissioned an external review from Deloitte. All of this shows there is no confidence in how the TCF is being operationalised.
Given the legal and administrative questions that remain unanswered, the fact that the system is so complex the department does not even know whether it is administering it correctly, the government must do whatever is necessary to stop it. Shut it down to avoid the continued harm that “mutual” obligations do to people living below the poverty line every single day.
Quotes attributable to antipoverty activist Jeremy Poxon
It is remarkable how little thought the employment department has given to the serious harm this potentially illegal scheme is inflicting on the most disadvantaged communities in the country.
The Employment Secretary was asked, point-blank in Estimates, if she had taken any steps to determine if victims of these failures were currently or previously at risk, and she could not answer.
Senior bureaucrats appear willing as ever to sweep all manner of participant abuse, systemic failure, defective administration and unlawful penalties under the rug to help governments punish people for daring to access welfare.
Quotes attributable to Antipoverty Centre spokesperson and JobSeeker recipient Jay Coonan
The government cannot keep doing this to people. “Mutual” obligations cause significant psychological and physical harm to welfare recipients and it is weaponised against the poorest people in our country.
The most recent data shows there are 2,245 people1 – most of whom will be in extreme financial hardship – receiving a reduced payment due to application of the Targeted Compliance Framework. The TCF is an absurd Kafkaesque nightmare for everyone it touches, from the department right down to people living on poverty payments. This has to end.
You cannot in good faith keep operating a system if you’re not sure whether you’re doing so lawfully. If the law stops you from taking action today, you must change the law when parliament returns for the federal budget.
If no action is taken, we can only conclude that the government and employment department are more afraid of legal action from the privatised poverty profiteers who run this system than from welfare recipients who are harmed by it.
The Secretary made an unreserved apology yesterday for the failure of the system. It is a meaningless apology until you stop the harm and abuse at the hands of the providers for every welfare recipient, not just those affected by the parts of the system that harm people unlawfully.
Media contact: 0403 429 414 / media at antipovertycentre.org
Crisis support and counselling services
If you need support you can seek guidance, counselling or crisis help from the below organisations or talk to someone you trust.
Suicide Call Back Service – general: 1300 659 467
Roses in the Ocean – peer support: 1800 777 337
SANE Australia – general: 1800 187 263
13YARN – for First Nations people: 13 92 76
National Counselling and Referral Service – for disabled people: 1800 421 468
Headspace – for young people: 1800 650 890
QLife – fo LGBTQIA+ people: 1800 184 527
Full Stop – for people who have experienced sexual harassment and assault: 1800 385 578
Embrace Mental Health – multilingual service: embracementalhealth.org.au
MensLine – for men: 1300 789 978
Brother to Brother – for First Nations men: 1800 435 799
See DEWR TCF data here: dewr.gov.au/employment-services-data/job-seeker-compliance-data