What NFPs want a future government to deliver

Speaking on this month’s ICDA Not-for-profit Agenda news webcast, in a series of recorded interviews, a selection of prominent sector leaders spelled out their hopes for a new federal government.

Sector peak says future government must expand the safety net

The Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Cassandra Goldie said her members would continue to press any government to improve the lot of the country’s disadvantaged, instead of sacrificing support to reduce inflation.

“As a very wealthy country, we have real choices about the way in which we tackle inflation.

“One thing we're not prepared to do is back the idea that you tackle inflation by keeping people hungry and homeless. The first thing we've got to do is to make sure that people who are struggling the most get the help that they need.

“We will continue to call for the fixing of the inadequacy of Jobseeker. The Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has now delivered two reports to this federal government, with its top recommendation each time to fix our woefully inadequate unemployment payment.”

She said that helping people into work would have a negligible impact on inflation, and that there were other methods to reduce inflation, such as better regulation of prices and scrutiny of price gouging associated with essentials.

She said voters going to the ballot box should question which future government would best tackle the needs of struggling Australians.

“The public will make their own decision on election day, but I think there is genuinely many people out there in Australian society today asking: ‘Who is really going to help me?’ And that's the contest that we want to see.

“I want to see the selection being a big debate about how to help people who are struggling to get by on $56 per day on Jobseeker, I want us to have a public debate about who is going to really help the most in tackling the housing affordability crisis with policies that will actually work.

“I want a proper debate about real action on climate change and making sure that we are tackling what is clearly one of the biggest threats to both humans and other species and to the health of the planet.

“I'm very worried about the reactionary politics, the use of racism, the use of transphobia … as a way to distract and to hurt and to divide us.

“I'm just really urging all of us to play our role in this election, to speak up, to act with solidarity, to create places of love, community and care in the face of some forces that are trying to divide us.”

Goldie said that ACOSS, among many other peak bodies, would continue to engage and press for progressive policies no matter who was elected.

“We engage with all sides of the Australian parliament. We work very closely with those who want to work with us, and we continue to reach out and to seek meetings with all sides of politics. We've had meetings with the national campaign directors for the Liberal Party, for the National Party, and for the Labor Party, and met with many of the crossbenchers as well.”

“And in those rooms, we are saying exactly the same thing to all of them: we are asking them to back the policies that will end poverty and reduce disadvantage in Australia, and we are urging all of them not to fuel racism, or discrimination or hate.”

She said ACOSS was confident it had the evidence and the facts to back up its arguments.

“We act with integrity and in my experience that is the best place to stay, because whichever government is in, there will be times when you'll be welcoming something and there are going to be times when you need to be critical.”

Australians support progressive reforms, economist

Emma Dawson, the chief executive of economic think tank Per Capita, said Australians supported progressive change, including reform of the tax system.

“I think whoever wins the next election … needs to recognise that there is a strong appetite across the community sector and the populous more broadly to restore opportunity.”

She said Per Capita’s studies showed that people wanted a fairer tax system and greater investment in services.

“They don't want to see less spending on government, and in fact 60% of people would say they would personally pay more tax for a better health and aged care system.

“I would suggest that no matter who wins that election, we must come together to drive meaningful reform that serves all of us and our children and our grandchildren. And ensures that they've got – not just an inhabitable planet to live on, but that they can build safe, secure, happy lives. Because what else is our political system meant to be about?”

Time to tackle $1.83 billion child support debt

An advocate for women battling poverty through unpaid child support debts said her organisation wants greater scrutiny of the child support system.

Single Mother Families Australia (SMFA) chief executive Terese Edwards said the organisation was strongly advocating for the federal government to tackle the $1.83 billion in unpaid child support debts, which affected more than 500,000 children.

Edwards said unpaid debt nearly always harmed women raising children, and was the basis of SMFA’s Fix Child Support campaign, which was backed “by data, with solutions and with knowledge”.

She said improving child support had already been subject to recommendations by the Women’s Economic Equality Task Force, the Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee, the Women’s Budget Statement and the Working for Women strategy.

“My biggest hope is that whoever is our next government, that they will keep building upon the need to really place a gender lens and to understand that poverty is feminised and it’s been worn too long on the shoulders of women.

“I’m the person who answers the phone, who responds to messages from women, and I’m fuelled by what I see day to day – mostly women who are unsafe, who live without economic security and really have their light diminished by the system. That keeps the fire burning for some long overdue justice.”

Minority government would increase sector advocacy effort

Anglicare Australia executive director Kasy Chambers said her organisation was open to any government that could address poverty and housing affordability, among two key priorities.

Ahead of the recent federal Budget, it advocated for increases in Centrelink payments, more help with job programs, and action on housing.

“We’ll be looking to work with whoever’s in government after the election.”

“We actually don’t care what politician it is who brings these policies to the fore. We’re about outcomes, and we’re about the policies that achieve those outcomes.”

Chambers said Anglicare Australia “would not be averse” to a minority government, adding, “I think there are good things that come from minority governments.”

She said major reforms such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) had been introduced during a minority government.

“I think a minority government does allow some more sensible conversations. It does mean that the government of the day, whatever colour they are, does need to delve deeper into democracy, have conversations, and have that parliament working for everybody.”

She forecast that such a government would “mean more work for some of us, because those of us that have that role, that privilege of actually talking to politicians, we talk to more in a minority government.”

“So I don’t think it’s [minority government’s] necessarily a bad thing for anybody, apart from perhaps people who are enmeshed in the two-party system.”

Foreign aid needs a boost

Oxfam Australia policy and advocacy lead Josie Lee said Australia must increase its foreign aid budget.

“The number one priority is for the government to increase Australian aid to the Pacific and our region to support people living in poverty.

“The Australian government spends just 0.68% of the federal Budget on aid. It's amongst the lowest in all OECD countries. We are really lagging behind other countries in our compassionate response to the needs of our region, and we want to see the new government immediately increase aid to 1 per cent of the budget,” Lee said.

“Part of that would be increasing Australia’s dedicated funding for climate change action in our region to support communities to recover from climate-change-fuelled disasters like severe storms, floods and the like, but also to adapt agriculture and water resources, so that they can live sustainably under these changing and more dangerous climatic conditions.”

She said Oxfam would like the government to better represents the interests of the “broader community”.

“We feel that the current government, both the current one, the previous governments, have been too influenced by kind of vested interests and ultra wealthy or big corporations. We want to see them really being more accountable to the people on a range of issues including the need for tax reform and to address the growing inequality and poverty crisis we have in Australia.”

Lee said that Oxfam believed any suggestion that Australia should reduce spending on international aid or welfare was a “fundamentally flawed” narrative.

“We know that there's huge amount of wealth in our society. Billionaire wealth has skyrocketed in recent years while the rest of us endure a cost-of-living crisis. There is plenty of money [and] there's no reason to have poverty in our world because there's more than enough money to solve it.”

She said the larger “systemic challenge” was the need for tax reform to ensure Australia could create a more fair and equal society without poverty.